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SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 



OF 



THE AMERICAN NEGRO 
IN THE WORLD WAR 

BY 

EMMETT J. SCOTT, A.M., LL.D. 

Special Assistant to Secretary of War 

Author of "Tuskegee and Its People," "Is Liberia Worth Saving?" and 
co-Author of "Booker T. Washington, Builder of a Civilization." 

Secretary of Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute. Eighteen years 
Pbivate Secbetary to the Late Booker T. Washington 



A Complete and Authentic Narration, from Official Sources, of the 
Participation of 

AMERICAN SOLDIERS OF THE NEGRO RACE 

in the 

WORLD WAR FOR DEMOCRACY 



Profusely Illustrated 

with Official Photographs 



A Full Account of the War Work Organizations of Colored Men and Women 
and other Civilian Activities including 

The Red Cross, the Y. M. C. A., the Y. W. C. A. and the 
War Camp Community Service 

With Official Summary of Treaty of Peace and 
League of Nations Covenant 



Prefaced with Highest Tributes to the American Negro 

by 

HON. NEWTON D. BAKER, Secretary of War 

GEN. JOHN J. PERSHING, Commander-in-Chief, American Exp. Forces, 

and the late 
COL. THEODORE ROOSEVELT 






5^ 



Copyright, 1919, by Emmett J. Scott. 



PHOTOGRAPHS USED IN THIS VOLUME ARE COPYRIGHTED 

BY 

Underwood & Underwood; Paul Thompson; E. L. Snyder; Baker Art 
Gallery; Western Newspaper Union; Scurlock; Committee on 
Public Information J Beresford Studio; Emmett J. Scott; 
WftT Camp Community Service ; Canfield & Shook ; 
Webb Studio; International Film Ser- 
vice; and others. All rights 
reserved. 



JUL 17 1919 
©CI.A530231 



y d^ 



/r 



DEDICATED 

TO 

MY WIFE AND CHILDREN 

TO WHOSE LOVE AND INSPIRATION 

I OWE SO MUCH. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Author's Preface 9 

Loyalty and Democracy of the Negro, by Secretary Baker 15 

Tribute to the Negro Soldier, by General Pershing 16 

The Negro's Part in the War, by Theodore Roosevelt 17 

CHAPTER I. — How the Great War Came to America 23 

The Underlying Causes of the War — Racial Hatreds and National Enmities 
— Germany's Ambition to Rule the World — The Gathering of the War 
Clouds — Germany's Attempt to Stir Up Trouble Between the United States 
and Mexico — Events that Led to America's Participation In the War. 

CHAPTER II.— The Call to the Colors 32 

Negro Troops that Were Ready When War Was Declared — The Famous 
9th and 10th Cavalry, U. S. Army— The 24th and 25th Infantry— National 
Guard Units of Colored Troops — The 8th Illinois — The 15th New York — 
National Guard Units of Ohio, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Maryland, and 
Tennessee — First Separate Battalion of the District of Columbia — How All 
of These Responded to the Call. 

CHAPTER III. — Official Recognition of the Negro's Interest. 40 

Appointment of Emmett J. Scott as Special Assistant to the Secretary of 
War — DifBculties Encountered in Establishing the Negro's Status — Oppor- 
tunities Afforded for Effective Work on Behalf of Negro Soldiers — Better 
Opportunities for Negro OflScers, Soldiers, Nurses, Surgeons, and Others 
Obtained Through This Official Connection. 

CHAPTER IV. — The Work of the Special Assistant 51 

Guarding the Interests of Negro Soldiers and Civilians — Promoting a 
Healthy Morale — Cases of Alleged Discrimination Against Negro Draftees — 
The Edward Merchant Case — The John D. Wray Case — How Justice Was 
Secured — A War Department Inquiry — Training of Colored Officers. 

CHAPTER V. — The Negro in the National Army 66 

Selective Service Law the Most Complete Recognition of the Citizenship 
of the Negro, North and South — All the Duties and Responsibilities of 
Patriots Imposed Upon the Negro by the Draft Act — Tribute by the Provost 
Marshal General to the Colored Soldier — Assignment of Negro Draftees to 
Cantonments. 



CONTENTS (CONTINUED) 5 

CHAPTER VI. — A Critical Situation in the Camps 75 

Race Problems that Had to be Solved— Fear of the Southern Whites that 
Trouble Would Follow the Training of Negro Troops in the South- 
Situation Complicated by the Houston Riot— Protest of the Governor of 
South Carolina — Dr. Scott Called to Spartanburg, S. C, to Allay Trouble 
There — How the Negro Soldier Finally Won the Respect and Confidence 
of the South. 

CHAPTER VII.— Colored Officers and How They Were Trained 82 

First Officers' Training Camp for Colored Men at Fort Des Moines, Iowa- 
Major J. E. Spingarn's Fight for the Establishment of This Camp — Methods 
of Training Reserve Officers — Negro Educational Institutions Furnish 
Personnel — Seven Hundred Colored Officers Commissioned at Fort Des 
Moines. 

CHAPTER VIII. — Treatment of Negro Soldiers in Camp 92 

Men from the South Sent to Northern Camps to Face a Hard Winter — 
Attempts at Discrimination Against Negro Soldiers and Officers — Firm 
Stand of the Secretary of War Against Race Discrimination — General 
Ballou's "Bulletin No. 35" — Members of Draft Boards Dismissed for Dis- 
crimination Against the Race. 

CHAPTER IX. — Efforts to Improve Conditions 105 

Secretary Baker and the Trying Situation at Camp Lee, Virginia — Reports 
on Investigations at Numerous Camps — Improved Conditions Brought 
About Gradually — The Case of Lieutenant Tribbett and Similar Cases of 
Race Prejudice, 

CHAPTER X. — Negro Soldiers of France and England 117 

French Colored Colonials the First Black Soldiers to Take Part In the 
War — The Story of These Senegalese Fighters — Their Important Part from 
the Beginning of the War — The Fight for the African Colonies — German 
Employment of Negro Troops in the Early Part of the War. 

CHAPTER XL— The Negro Combat DmsiON 130 

Full Detailed Account of the Organization and Fighting Campaigns of 
the Famous Ninety-Second, as Recorded by the Division's Official His- 
torian — Complete Official Reports of Every Battle In Which the Ninety- 
Second Took Part — Commendation by Commanding Officers. 

CHAPTER XII.— Citations and Awards, 92nd Division 173 

Officers and Men of the Famous Negro Division Whose Heroic Conduct 
Gained for Them the Distinguished Service Cross — Details of Their Deeds 
of Heroism in Action — Special Mention of Officers and Men by Various 
Commanding Officers. 

CHAPTER XIII.— The Story op *'The Buffaloes" 190 

Glorious Record of the 367th Infantry Regiment — Colonel James A. Moss — 
Presentation of Colors by the Union League Club — "The Buffaloes" in 
France — How They "Saw It Through" at Metz — Their Heroic Conduct 
Under Fire — Regimental Colors Decorated by Order of the French High 
Command — A Tribute from France to "These Sunburned Americans." 



6 CONTENTS (CONTINUED) 

CHAPTER XIV.— Record of "The Old Fifteenth" 197 

The Glorious Story of the 369th United States Infantry, Formerly of the 
New York National Guard— The Regiment That Never Lost a Man Cap- 
tured, a Trench, or a Foot of Ground— First Negro Troops to Go into 
Action in France. 

CHAPTER XV.—' ' The Eighth Illinois" 214 

story of the 370th U. S. Infantry— Another Negro National Guard Regi- 
ment that Won Distinction on the Battlefield— Chicago's Colored Fighters- 
Called "Black Devils" by the Germans and "Partridges" by the French 
Because of Their Proud Bearing— First American Troops to March into 
the Fortified City of Laon— Their Stubborn Resistance at the Oise-Aisne 
Canal. 

CHAPTER XVI.-— The 371st Infantry in France 231 

How This Colored Regiment of the "Red Hand" Division Helped to Win 
the War — Service in the Trenches under General Goybet — In the Great 
Champagne Offensive — Fierce Fighting and Heavy Losses — The Regiment 
Decorated by the French — Individual Citations and Awards. 

CHAPTER XVII.— The Record of the 372nd 239 

A Regiment Made Up of National Guard Troops and Drafted Men — ^Attached 
to the Famous French "Red Hand" Division — Its Splendid Record in 
France — At Hill 304 — Heroic Exploits of Individuals — The Regiment Dec- 
orated with the Croix de Guerre — Citations and Awards. 

CHAPTER XVIII.— Negro Heroes of the War 256 

The Exploit of Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts — How One American 
Soldier in No-Man's Land Killed Four Germans and Wounded Twenty- 
Eight Others Single-Handed — First American Soldiers to Receive the 
French Croix de Guerre — Other Instances of Individual Heroism by Negro 
Soldiers. 

CHAPTER XIX.— The Negro Soldier as a Fighter 274 

Unanimous Praise by Military Observers — Value of Negroes as Shock 
Troops — Discipline and Morale Under Fire — What the War Correspondents 
Said About Them — Comments by Foreign Military Observers — Estimates 
by American and French Officers. 

CHAPTER XX.— With Our Soldiers in France 284 

f- 

Official Reports of the Only Accredited Negro War Correspondent — Ralph 
W. Tyler, Representative with the A. E. F. of the U. S. Committee on Public 
Information— The Story of the Life and Fighting of American Negro 
Soldiers in France as Seen by This Trained Observer. 

CHAPTER XXI.— Negro Music That Stirred France 300 

Recognition of the Value of Music by the U. S. War Department— The 
Patriotic Music of Colored Americans— Lieutenant James Europe and His 
Famous "Jazz" Band — Other Leaders and Aggregations of Musicians — 
Enthusiasm of the French People and Officers for American Music as 
Interpreted by These Colored Artists and Their Bandsmen. 



CONTENTS (CONTINUED) 7 

CHAPTER XXII.— The Negro in the Service of Supply 315 

A Vast Army of Colored Stevedores In France — Their Important and 
Efficient Work — Essential to the Combatant Army in the Trenches — Their 
Loyalty and Cheerfulness — Important Lessons Learned In the War — The 
Labor Battalions — Well-Earned Tributes to These Splendid Colored 
Workers Overseas. 

CHAPTER XXIII.— "With Those Who Wait" 328 

Provision for Technical Training of Draftees — Units that Did Not Get to 
France — Vocational and Educational Opportunities Opened to Them — The 
Negro In the Students' Array Training Corps — In the Reserve Officers* 
Training Corps. 

CHAPTER XXIV. — German Propaganda Among Negroes 344 

Insidious Efforts to Create Dissatisfaction Among Colored Americans — 
Germany's Treacherous Promises — How the Hun Tried to Undermine the 
Loyalty of Our Negro Citizens — Steps Taken to Combat Enemy Propa- 
ganda — Work of the Committee on Public Information. 

CHAPTER XXV.— How Colored Civilians Helped to Win 355 

Their Co-operation in All the Liberty Loan Drives — The Negro and the 
Red Cross — In the United War Work Campaign — How the Negroes Bought 
War Savings Stamps — Special Contributions and Work of Colored Citi- 
zens — The "Committee of One Hundred" and Its Valuable Work. 

CHAPTER XXVI.— Negro Labor in War Time 365 

Organization for War Work — The Division of Negro Economics — Pioneer 
Work of Dr. George E. Haynes — Negro Representation in Council — Seeking 
to Improve Race Relations — Good Work by Negroes in the Shipyards — 
Attitude of Organized Labor — The Opportunities of the War. 

CHAPTER XXVII.— Negro Women in War Work 374 

Enthusiastic Service of Colored Women in the Wartime Emergency — Over- 
coming the Problems of Race by Pure Patriotism — Work for the Red 
Cross — The Young Women's Christian Association — The Colored Hostess 
Houses and Rest Rooms for Soldiers — War Problems of Living — The Circle 
for Negro War Relief — Colored Women in the Loan Drives — Important 
Work in War Industries. 

CHAPTER XXVIII.— Social Welfare Agencies 398 

Important Welfare Work of the Young Men's Christian Association and 
Other Organized Bodies — Negro Secretaries of the Y. M. C. A. — The Prob- 
lem of Illiteracy in the Camps — The Social Secretaries — Results of Educa- 
tion — The Y. W. C. A. Hostess Houses — The Knights of Columbus- -Caring 
tor Returned Soldiers. 

CHAPTER XXIX.— Negro Loyalty and Morale 411 

Eager Response of Colored Draftees — Notable Tributes to the Patriotism 
of the Negro Race by the White Press — Also by President Wilson, Secretary 
Baker, Secretary Daniels and Others — Negro Loyalty Never Doubted — 
Patriotic Negro Demonstrations and Other Instances of Loyalty. 



8 . CONTENTS (CONTINUED) 

CHAPTER XXX.— Did the Negro Soldier Get a Square Deal 1 426 

Reports of "Widespread Discrimination and Harsh Treatment In Camp — 
Many Manifestations of Prejudice by White Officers — The Question of 
White or Negro Officers for Negro Regiments— Higher Officers of the Army 
Usually Fair — Disinclination to Utilize Colored Nurses and Colored Medical 
Men — Secretary Baker's Efforts to Prevent Race Discrimination — Reports 
of Negro Observers on Conditions Overseas. 

CHAPTER XXXI. — What the Negro Got Out op the War 458 

A Keener Sense of His Rights and Privileges as a Citizen of the United 
States— Racial Attitude of the South — Returning Negro Soldiers and Con- 
ditions in the North — The Attitude of Organized Labor — Instances of Dis- 
crimination — The Black Man and His Claims to Equal Treatment. 



APPENDIX. — Colored Officers Commissioned at Ft. Des Moines 471 

Colored Chaplains in the U. S. Army 482 

Officlvl Summary of the Treaty of Peace 483 

'Map of Central Europe Showing Territorial Changes Under the 
Treaty , 502 

Key to the Map 503 

Final Changes in the Treaty 504 

Chronology of the World War 505-512 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

The Negro, in the great World War for Freedom and Democracy, 
has proved to be a notable and inspiring figure. The record and 
achievements of this racial group, as brave soldiers and loyal citi- 
zens, furnish one of the brightest chapters in American history. 
The ready response of Negro draftees to the Selective Service calls — 
together with the numerous patriotic activities of Negroes generally, 
gave ample evidence of their whole-souled support and their 100 
per cent Americanism. It is difficult to indicate which rendered the 
greater service to their Country — the 400,000 or more of them who 
entered active military service (many of whom fearlessly and vic- 
toriously fought upon the battlefields of France) or the millions of 
other loyal members of this race whose useful industry in fields, 
factories, forests, mines, together with many other indispensable 
civilian activities, so vitally helped the Federal authorities in carry- 
ing the war to a successful conclusion. 

When war against Germany was declared April 6, 1917, Negro 
Americans quickly recognized the fact that it was not to be a white 
man's war, nor a black man's war, but a war of all the people living 
under the '^ Stars and Stripes" for the preservation of human liberty 
throughout the ivorld. Despite efforts of pro-German propagandists 
to dampen their ardor or cool their patriotism by pointing out seem- 
ing inconsistencies between their treatment as American citizens 
and their expected loyalty as American soldiers, more than one 
million of them (1,078,331), according to the Second Official Eeport 
of the Provost Marshal General, promptly responded to, and regis- 
tered under the three Selective Service calls. More than 400,000 
Negro soldiers (367,710 draftees plus voluntaiy enlistments and 
those already in the Eegular Army) were called to the colors and 
offered their lives in defense of the American flag during the recent 
war. Relative to their population, proportionately more Negroes 
were *' drafted" than was true of white men. 

The Negro was represented in practically every branch of 
military service during the Great World War, — including Infantry, 
Cavalry, Engineer Corps, Field Artillery, Coast Artillery, Signal 
Corps (radio or wireless telegraphers). Medical Corps, Hospital and 
Ambulance Corps, Aviation Corps (ground section). Veterinary 

9 



10 AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

Corps, and in Stevedore Regiments, Service or Labor Battalions, 
Depot Brigades, and so fortli. 

Nor was this the first instance in the Nation's history that this 
ever-loyal racial group rightly and cheerfully responded to the 
tocsin of war and made a military record of which any race might 
well be proud. In the Revolutionary War, in the War of 1812, in 
the Mexican War, in the Civil War, and in the War with Spain, — 
the American Negro soldier has always distinguished himself by 
bravery, fortitude, and loyalty. His military record has always 
compared favorably with that of other soldiers. 

It is because of the immensely valuable contribution made by 
Negro soldiers, sailors, and civilians toward the winning of the great 
World War that this volume has been prepared, — in order that there 
may be an authentic record, not only of the military exploits of this 
particular racial group of Americans, but of the diversified and 
valuable contributions made by them as patriotic civilians. 

A notable group of colored Americans, men and women, has 
joined me in this effort adequately to present a reliable record of 
the many services and sacrifices that the Negro race has willingly 
laid upon the altar of Patriotism. It is a matter of profound satis- 
faction to have had the earnest cooperation of : 

Caeter G. Woodson, A. M., Ph. D., Director of Research, The 
Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, whose mono- 
graphs on Negro Life and History appear regularly in the "Journal 
of Negro History," the one publication of its kind in America. Dr. 
Woodson is a graduate of Harvard University, from which he re- 
ceived the degree of Ph. D., and is an authority on Negro History. 
His cooperation is, therefore, rightly to be prized as bringing to this 
work an appreciation of historical values. 

Ralph W. Tylee, accredited Negro War Correspondent, who 
served overseas, representing the Committee on Public Information. 
Mr. Tyler had full opportunity at the front to know how colored 
soldiers acquitted themselves in camps and upon the battlefields of 
France. His letters and official reports sent to America and pub- 
lished through the Committee on Public Information in various 
white and colored newspapers of the country contained first-hand 
information concerning Negro troops overseas, and served to keep 
up the morale of colored Americans at a time when there was much 
anxiety and complaint among them due to the fact that adequate 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 11 

news regarding the treatment and activities of Negro soldiers abroad 
was not finding its way into the press of the country. 

William Anthony Aery, Publication Secretary of the Hampton 
Normal and Agricultural Institute, and Monroe N. Work, in charge 
of the Division of Records and Research at Tuskegee Normal and 
Industrial Institute, both of whom, being connected with the largest 
industrial schools among colored people in the United States, had 
full opportunity to observe the conduct and training of Negro sol- 
diers in the various Vocational Detachments, Students * Army Train- 
ing Corps, and Reserve Officers ' Training Corps units ; their counsel 
and data furnished have been of material assistance in the prepara- 
tion of this volume. 

Mrs. Alice Dunbar-Nelson (formerly the wife of Paul Laurence 
Dunbar, the ''Poet Laureate" of the Negro race), who wrote 
Chapter XXVII, entitled: ''Negro Women in War Work." Mrs. 
Nelson, prominent in educational and literary circles, was actively 
engaged during the war in helping to mobilize the colored women of 
the country for effective war work, representing the Women's Divi- 
sion of the Council of National Defense ; she traveled extensively in 
various parts of the country in the effort to promote patriotic activi- 
ties among the colored women of America, and with eloquent tongue, 
trenchant pen, and untiring personal service helped them to make 
a record that will stand forever as a monument to the practical value 
and absolute dependability of Negro womanhood in a national crisis. 

Miss Eva D. Bowles, Executive Secretary in charge of the 
Colored Young Women's Christian Association, who did a notable 
piece of work in connection with the War Work Council, not only in 
the matter of selecting well-trained women to take charge of Hostess 
Houses that were provided at various camps and cantonments, but 
in keeping alive the fires of patriotism among the colored women of 
the country as she went from place to place lecturing and otherwise 
working for the betterment of social conditions in Army camps and 
especially in communities adjacent thereto. A full report of the 
work done by the organization, which this consecrated young woman 
so worthily represents, is contained in Chapter XXVII, entitled: 
"Negro Women in War Work." 

Lieutenant T. T. Thompson, Personnel Officer and Historian 
of the 92nd Division, to whom I am especially indebted for a large 
amount of official data concerning the various activities of this im- 



12 AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

portant Divisional unit of the American Expeditionary Forces. 
Lieutenant Thompson, by training and experience, was well fitted 
for the exacting post which was held by him as an officer in the U. S. 
Army and as a chronicler of the activities and operations of the 
92nd Division. The material supplied by him and incorporated in 
Chapters XI and XII must, therefore, be regarded as official, 
authentic, and reliable. It is the one clear record of the activities of 
the 92nd Division, — that justly famous military unit composed of 
American Negro officers and soldiers who served their country so 
gallantly during the recent war. The data supplied by Lieutenant 
Thompson has been checked up by various other officers of the 92nd 
Division, including Lieutenant Chakles S. Pakkee, Regimental 
Adjutant, 366th Infantry, a man of scholarly attainments, judicial 
poise and clear understanding, and who, also, has supplied definite 
and important data with reference to the operations of certain 
Negro units that distinguished themselves by valor when the 92nd 
Division fearlessly faced the formidable fortress at Metz. It is a 
matter of great benefit to the Negro Race, and certainly most grati- 
fying to the Author to have had recourse to the official records kept 
by these colored officers. 

I am also especially indebted to Captain John H. Patton, 
Regimental Adjutant of the 370th Infantry Regiment, U. S. A. (bet- 
ter known as the Old Eighth Illinois Regiment) which unit actively 
participated in many a bloody conflict overseas and won imperishable 
fame. Captain Patton placed at my disposal the full and complete 
official record of the ''Eighth Illinois" (370th) Regiment and it was 
largely from that record, of undeniable authenticity, that Chapter 
XV was compiled. 

Grateful reference must also be made to De. Jesse E. Mooeland, 
International Secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association, 
\\dth Headquarters at Washington, D. C. Dr. Moorland was in 
charge of all the Y. M. C. A. work conducted among colored soldiers 
in the various camps and cantonments throughout America as well 
as overseas, and with a well-selected cabinet of efficient, consecrated 
young colored men, rendered service of the utmost value in looking 
after the moral and social welfare of thousands of Negro soldiers 
who were called to the colors. Each and every Y. M. C. A. Secretary 
selected for service in camps or cantonments at home or overseas was 
designated by Dr. Moorland and his large corps of capable helpers co- 



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 13 

operated most effectively with the War Work Council. No more 
notable work was done during the war than that performed by the 
Young Men's Christian Association among colored soldiers as it 
received the untutored, untrained and, in many cases unlettered col- 
ored men who poured into the various camps, and, largely through 
the practical help afforded by colored Y. M. C. A. Secretaries, were 
transformed within a few weeks or months into upstanding, sturdy, 
forward-looking men. The story of the Y. M. C. A. work among 
colored soldiers is a story most interesting and worthy of preser- 
vation. 

Captain E. L. Snyder, Y. M. C. A. Secretary, who served for a 
time at Camp Grant with the 183rd Depot Brigade and later upon 
three battle fronts overseas, has placed the Author and his Eace 
under many obligations for permitting me to use and in securing for 
use in this volume a large number of very valuable pictures or illus- 
trations contained herein; they indicate the widespread and varied 
activities of Negro troops in American camps and cantonments and 
in service overseas. Many of these illustrations were photographed 
by him at the front — some being photographed while he was in 
danger of being wounded or killed by flying pieces of shrapnel, while 
others were secured from the French Official Photographic Division. 
They show both American Negro and French Colonial troops in 
action. 

Most or all of the photographs of colored officers have been 
supplied by these officers themselves at my special request, and I 
wish in this way to express to them all my grateful acknowledgment, 
with my sincere regret that the space devoted to illustrations did 
not permit the publication of all of the photographs so kindly fur- 
nished. 

Many of these colored officers have furnished me with first-hand 
information of interest and importance, duly verified by their com- 
rades in arms, — setting forth their individual exploits as well as 
those of the various units with which they were connected. To all 
of them, and to all others who have aided me in the preparation of 
this work, I am profoundly grateful. 

In calling attention to these cooperating agencies, I want espe- 
cially to pay tribute to my loyal and efficient secretary, Mr. William 
H. Davis, without whose generous support and valued services it 
would have been difficult for me to have done this work or to have 



14 AUTHOR'S PREFACE 

presented a record of the activities of my office during the period 
of nearly two years I have been serving in the War Department as 
Special Assistant to the Secretary of War. Since entering upon the 
duties of that office, Mr. Davis has given a great deal more than time 
in supporting my various efforts in behalf of Negro soldiers and in 
the interest of Negi'o citizens generally; without regard to recom- 
pense and without counting time, strength or anything else except a 
desire to serve to the uttermost, — and I wish in this way and in this 
place to record my deep indebtedness to him, an indebtedness which 
must be shared by the Negro people of this country as well, in whose 
interest and for whose welfare he has served so loyally and un- 
selfishly. I wish also gratefully to acknowledge the help and encour- 
agement I have had from my corps of office assistants, clerks and 
stenographers, viz: Mr. R. W. Thompson, Mr. Charles Webb, Mr. 
J. B. Smith, Mrs. Madeline P. Childs, and Miss Ernestine English. 

In response to the natural desire and nation-wide demand for 
an authentic and reliable record of Negro military achievements and 
other of their patriotic contributions, this volume has been pre- 
pared as a lasting tribute to the American Negro's participation in 
the greatest war in human history. Much of the material, as the 
reader will note, is based upon first-hand study, official reports and 
data, and the greatest possible care has been taken in the effort to 
set forth definitely what has been done — not only by black men in 
America but by those other brave black soldiers of Africa (Sene- 
galese, Soudanese, and Algerians) who served with the Allies and 
who rendered such timely and valuable service, — in helping to save 
to the casket of Freedom the precious jewel of Human Liberty! 



Washington, D. C, 
June 15, 1919. 




LOYALTY AND DEMOCRACY OF THE NEGRO PRAISED 
BY THE SECRETARY OF WAR 

The following is the testimony of the Honorable Newton D. 
Baker, Secretary of War, to the loyal and enthusiastic support 
of colored civilians and the part played by colored soldiers in the 
war: 

In a most encouraging degree, it is being regarded by colored 
civilians throughout the country, as a privilege and as a duty to 
give liberally of their substance, of their time, of their talents, of 
their energy, of their influence, and in every way possible, to con- 
tribute toward the comfort and success of our fighting units and 
those of our allies across the seas. 

The colored men, who were subject to draft, are to be com- 
mended upon their promptness and eagerness in registering their 
names for service in the National Army, and likewise mention is 
made of the relatively low percentage of exemption claims filed by^ 
them. Those in the service of their country proved faithful and 
efficient, and will uphold the traditions of their race. 

I want the soldier who did not go over seas to know that he is 
as much a soldier as though he had taken part in the more spec- 
tacular side. I want to insist that the men who were in training in 
this country are just as much a part of the Army of the United 
States as if they had gone. 

Now, I want to impress this upon you men, that if you feel 
that things have not been as you would like them — if there have 
been some things which you think were not as they should have been, 
you must try to forget them and go back to civil life with the deter- 
mination to do your part to make the country what it should be. 

After all, what is this thing we call ''DEMOCRACY" and about 
which we hear so much nowadays? Surely it no catch-phrase or 
abstraction. It is demonstrating too much vitality for that. It is 
no social distinction or privilege of the few, for were it that, it could 
not win the hearts of peoples and make them willing to die for 
its establishment. But it is, it seems to me, a hope as wide as 
the human race, involving men everywhere — a hope that permits 

15 



16 TRIBUTES TO THE NEGRO IN WAR 

each of us to look forward to a time when not only we^ but others, 
will have our respective rights, founded on the generosity of Nature, 
and protected by a system of justice which will adjust its apparent 
conflicts. Under such a hope nations will do justice to nations, and 
men to men. Nor can I believe that this democracy will be attained 
as a finished and complete thing, but rather with increased education 
and knowledge its application will enlarge and new meanings be 
discovered in it. It is not the philosophy of disorder, but of prog- 
ressive order, not the doctrine of restraint by force, but rather of 
self-restraint imposed by men who realize that one's own freedom 
is safest when that of others is equally safe. 

Newton D. Baker. 



General Pershing's Tribute to the Negro Soldier 

' ' The stories, probably invented by German agents, that colored 
soldiers in France are always placed in most dangerous positions 
and sacrificed to save white soldiers, that when wounded they are 
left on the ground to die without medical attention, etc., are abso- 
lutely false. 

^'A tour of inspection among American Negro troops by officers 
of these headquarters show^s the comparatively high degree of train- 
ing and efficiency among these troops. Their training is identical 
with that of other American troops serving wi^h the French Army, 
the effort being to lead all American troops gradually to heavy 
combat duty by a preliminary service in trenches in quiet sectors. 

*' Colored troops in trenches have been particularly fortunate 
as one regiment had been there a month before any losses were 
suffered. This was almost unheard of on the western front. 

*'The exploits of two colored infantrymen in repelling a much 
larger German patrol, killing and wounding several Germans and 
winning the Croix de Guerre by their gallantry, has aroused a fine 
spirit of emulation throughout the colored troops, all of whom are 
looking forward to more active service. 

"The only regret expressed by colored troops is that they are 
not given more dangerous work to do. I cannot commend too highly 
the spirit shown among the colored combat troops, who exhibit 
fine capacity for quick training and eagerness for the most dangerous 
w^^^k'" John J. Pershing. 




Above — Colonel Hay ward's "Hell Fighters" in Parade. The famous 369th Infantry of colored 
fighters marching in New York City in honor of their return to this country after having 
covered themselves with glory on the blood-stained fields of France. 
Below — The Buffaloes (367th) Marching up the Avenue in New York on Their Return 




Above — American Negro Machine Gunners in tlie Marne Sector in France. 

Below — In the trenches ; a French Officer explaining operation of tlie hand grenades to Senegalese 
and American Negro soldiers. 




Above — Lt. Rutherford's Minstrels, recruited on board the "Saxonia" on homeward trip, where 
they amused and entertained over 1700 wounded boys on the way back from France. 
Below — Transport "Ulua," with her cargo of dusky fighters who are glad to be baclv home 
after doing their bit in France. Among them are the 3] 7th Supply Train, 317th Trench 
Mortar Battery, 325th Field Signal Battery. 




MAJOR-GENERAL, C. C. BAL.LOU, COMMANDER OF THE FIGHTING 92nd DIVISION. 




Above — How the boys enjoyed themselves in France. A group of Negro soldiers off duty 

around a Y. M. C. A. tent at Villers le Sec (Meuse). 
Below — A German tank destroyed by allied shell Are in a sector occupied by American 

Neg-ro Troops. 




.Above — Welcoming a Victorious Hero. Htni v Johnson, the American Private who killed four 

Germans and wounded twenty-two with his bolo knife, and was the First American of any 

„ , "^^ceto receive the Croix de Guerre, being carried in triumph up Fifth Avenue on his return. 

Below — Negro Stevedores of the National Army Unloading a Transport in the Harbor of Brest. 




'The Flags of the Fig-hting 15th." Color Bearers of the 369th, inarching up Fifth Avenue 
with Regimental Colors bearing the decoration presented to the entire Regiment by 
the French Government. These flags were given to the Regiment by the Union League 
Club of New York, and returned to the Club at the close of the war. The Regimental 
Standard has the distinction of being the only State flag carried into action by any 
American unit. 




GP:0UP of colored officers op the 368th INFANTRY. 
Left to rig-ht — Top — 1st. Lt. Clayborne George ; 1st Lt. C. B. Curley ; 1st Lt. Wm. Harris. 
Center — 1st Lt. J. S. Heslip ; Capt. T. N. Dent ; 2nd Lt. P. W. Alexander. 
Bottom — 1st Lt. Levi Anderson ; 1st Lt. J. E. Scott : 1st Lt. R. E. Banks. 




Above — A detachment of American Negro Infantrymen Operating in the Front Line Trenches. 

Below — Here is a photograph right from the front, an unusual picture showing how the trenches 

really looked. These are American and French Colonial colored soldiers in a French trench. 




WOODROW WILSON 

,'Pbesident of the United States During the Great World War. 




Hon. Newton D. Baker, Secretary of "War. Throughout the war Secretary Baker stood for a 
square deal for the Negro soldier, and was prompt to rectify every injustice or case of dis- 
crimination that came to his attention. 




/^^j-'tr^^*.-*-^- 




Above — The Band that Introduced France to Ragtime." Lieut. James Europe's aggregation of 
Negro musicians accompanied the 369th Infantry overseas. The music of these dark skinned 
players took France by storm. Gen. Pershing borrowed the band for a month to play at 
iieaaquarters ot the A. K P., but sent it back to the regiment wlien General Gouraud. 
the French Commander, begged for its return 

Belqw—Ueut Maxom and the band of the 814th Infantry on the pier at New York just after 
disembarking' from the transport Celtic from overseas. Our colored bands were the 
wonder of France. 




Above — "Returning the Colors." Major David Appleton commanding the "Buffaloes, re- 
turning the Colors intrusted to this Negro regiment, upon its return from its glorious 
service in France. „ . j, 

Below— Hon. Charles Evans Hughes Receiving the Colors of the 367th Infantry from 
Major Daniel Appleton, who is on Justice Hughes' left. 



FORMER PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT ON "THE NEGRO'S 
PART IN THE WAR" 

It is a source of pride and gratification to record the fact that 
Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, the great former President of the 
United States, whose sudden and untimely death occurred on Jan- 
uary 6, 1919, made his last public appearance and address at a 
meeting held in Carnegie Hall, New York, on November 2nd, 1918, 
under the auspices of the Circle for Negro War Relief. It was on 
this occasion that Colonel Roosevelt paid the following high tribute 
to the Negro Race in War: 

' ' The Negro has a right to sit at the council board where ques- 
tions vitally affecting him are considered, and at the same time, as 
a matter of expediency, it is well to have white men at the board 
too. And I say that, though I know that there are many men — Dr. 
Scott is one — whom I would be delighted to have sit at the council 
board where only the affairs of white men are concerned. As things 
are now, the wisest course to follow is that followed in the organiza- 
tion of this circle. 

''Such an organization as this, though started and maintained 
with a friendly co-operation from white friends, is intended to prove 
to the world that the colored people themselves can manage war 
relief in an efficient, honest and dignified way and so bring honor 
to their race. Every organization like this Circle for Negro War 
Relief is doing its part in bringing about the right solution for the 
great problem which the Chairman has spoken of this evening. 

' * I do not for one moment want to be understood as excusing the 
white man from his full responsibility for anything that he has done 
to keep the black man down ; but I do wish to say, with all the empha- 
sis and all the earnestness at my command, that the greatest work the 
colored man can do to help his race upward is by, in his own person 
and through co-operation with his fellows, showing the dignity of 
service by the colored man and colored woman for all our people. 

''Let me illustrate just what I mean when I say the advisability 
of white co-operation and the occasional advisability of doing with- 
out white co-operation. Had I been permitted to raise troops to go 
on the other side, I should have asked permission to raise two colored 

17 



18 ROOSEVELT'S THIBUTE TO THE NEGEO 

regiments. It is perfectly possible, of course, that there is more 
than one colored man in the country fit for the extraordinarily diffi- 
cult task of commanding one such colored regiment, which would 
contain nothing but colored officers. But it happens that I only 
knew of one and that was Colonel Charles Young. I had intended 
to offer him the colonelship of one regiment, telling him I expected 
him to choose only colored officers, and that while I was sure he 
would understand the extreme difficulty and extreme responsibility 
of his task, I intended to try to impress it upon him still more; 
to tell him that under those conditions I put a heavier responsibility 
upon him than upon any other colored man in the country, and that 
he was to be given an absolutely free hand in choosing his officers, 
and that on the other hand he would have to treat them absolutely 
mercilessly, if they didn't come right up to the highest level. 

*'0n the other hand, with the other colored regiment, I should 
have had a colonel and a Lieutenant-colonel and three majors who 
would have been white men. One of them, Hamilton Fish, is over 
there now. One went over and was offered permission to form 
another regiment. He said no, he would stay with his sunburned 
Yankees. He stayed accordingly. 

*'Mr. Cobb has spoken to you as an eyewitness of what has 
been done by the colored troops across the seas. I am well prepared 
to believe it. In the very small war in which I served, which was a 
kind of a pink tea affair, I had a division, small dismounted cavalry 
division, where in addition to my own regiment we had three white 
regular regiments and two colored regiments; and when we had 
gotten through the campaign my own men, who were probably two- 
thirds Southerners and Southwestemers, used to say, ^The Ninth 
and Tenth Cavalry are good enough to drink out of our canteens.' 

"And terrible though this war has been, I think it has been also 
fraught with the greatest good for our national soul. We went to 
war, as Mr. Cobb has said, to maintain our own national self-respect. 
And, friends, it would have been something awful if we hadn't gone 
in. Materially, because the fight was so even that I don't think it is 
boasting, I think it is a plain statement of fact, Mr. Cobb, that our 
going in turned the scale. Isn't that so? I think the Germans and 
their vassal allies would have been victorious if we hadn't gone in. 



ROOSEVELT'S TRIBUTE TO THE NEGRO 19 

And if they had been victorious and we had stayed out, soft, flabby, 
wealthy, they would have eaten us without saying grace. 

''Well, thank Heaven! we went in, and our men on the other side, 
our sons and brothers on the other side, white men and black, white 
soldiers and colored soldiers, have been so active that every Ameri- 
can now can walk with his head up and look the citizen of any other 
country in the world straight in the eyes, and we have the satisfac- 
tion of knowing that we have played the decisive part. I am not 
saying this in any spirit of self-flattery. If any of you have heard 
me speak during the preceding four years you know that I have not 
addressed the American people in a vein of undiluted eulogy. But 
without self -flattery we can say that it was our going in that turned 
the scale for freedom and ag-ainst the most dangerous tyranny that 
the world has ever seen. We acted as genuine friends of liberty in 
so doing. 

"Now after the war, friends, I think all of us in this country, 
white and black alike, have also got to set an example to the rest of 
the world in steering a straight course equally distant from Kaiser- 
ism and Bolshevism. 

''And now, friends, I want as an American to thank you, and as 
your fellow American to congratulate you, upon the honor won and 
the service rendered by the colored troops on the other side ; by the 
men such as the soldier Needham Roberts w^e have with us tonight 
who won the Cross of War, the greatest War Cross for gallantry in 
action ; for the many others like him who acted with equal gallantry 
and who for one reason or another never attracted the attention of 
their superiors and, well ti^ough they did, did not receive the out- 
ward and visible token to prove what they had done. I want to con- 
gratulate you on what all those men have done. I want to congrat- 
ulate you on what the colored nurses at home have done and have 
been ready to do, and to express my very sincere regret that some way 
was not found to put them on the other side at the front. I con- 
gratulate you upon it in the name of our country and above all 
in the name of the colored people of our country. For in the end 
services of this kind have a cumulative effect in winning the confi- 
dence of your fellows of another color. 

"And I hope — and I wish to use a stronger expression than 
'hope'; I expect — and I am going to do whatever small amount I 



20 ROOSEVELT'S TRIBUTE TO THE NEGRO 

can do, to bring about the realization of the expectation, I expect 
that as a result of this great war, intended to secure a greater jus- 
tice internationally among the people of mankind, we shall apply at 
home the lessons that we have been learning and helping teach 
abroad; that we shall work sanely, not foolishly, but resolutely, 
toward securing a juster and fairer treatment in this country of 
colored people, basing that treatment upon the only safe rule to be 
followed in American life, of treating each individual accordingly 
as his conduct or her conduct requires you to treat them. 

*'I don't ask for any man that he shall because of his race be 
given any privilege. All I ask is that in his ordinary civil rights, in 
his right to work, to enjoy life and liberty and the pursuit of happi- 
ness, that as regards those rights he be given the same treatment 
that we would give him if he was of another color. 

''Now, friends, both the white man and the black man in moments 
of exultation are apt to think that the millennium is pretty near ; that 
the sweet chariot has swung so low that everybody can get upon it. 
I don't think that my colored fellow-citizens are a bit worse than 
my white fellow-citizens as regards that particular aspiration. And 
I am sure you do not envy me the ungrateful task of warning both 
that they must not expect too much. They must have their eyes on 
the stars but their feet on the ground. I have to warn m}^ white 
fellow-citizens about that when they say: 'Well, now, at the end 
of this war, we are going to have universal peace. Everybody loves 
everybody else.' I want you to remember that the strongest expo- 
nents of international love in public life today are Lenine and 
Trotsky. 

"I will do everything I can to aid, to help to bring about, to bring 
nearer the day when justice and what in a humble way may be called 
the square deal will be given. And yet I want to warn you that that 
is only going to come gradually; that there will be very much injus- 
tice, injustice that must not over-much disappoint you and it must 
not cow you and above all it must not make you feel sullen and 
hopeless. 

"And one thing I want to say, not to you here but the the colored 
men who live where the bulk of the colored men do, in the South, 
and that is always to remember the lesson which I learned from 
Booker Washington : that in the long run, in the long run, the white 



ROOSEVELT'S TRIBUTE TO THE NEGRO 21 

man who can give most help to the colored man is the white man who 
lives next to him. And in consequence I always felt it my official 
duty to work so that I could command the assistance and respect of 
the bulk of the white men who are decent and square, in what I tried 
to do for the colored man who is decent and square. 

* ' To each side I preach the doctrine of thinking more of his duties 
than of his rights. I don't mean that you shan't think of your 
rights. I Avant you to do it. But it is awfully easy, if you begin to 
dwell all the time on your rights, to find that you suffer from an 
ingrowing sense of your own perfections and wrongs and that you 
forget what you owe to anyone else. 

**I congratulate all colored men and women and all their white 
fellow-Americans upon the gallanty and efficiency with which the 
colored men have behaved at the front, and the efficiency and wish to 
render service which have been shown by both the colored men 
and the colored women behind them in this country." 

Theodore Roosevelt. 



TWO FIRST CLASS AMERICANS! 




This cartoon, with the above title, was drawn by Mr. W. A. 
Rogers, the famous cartoonist of the New York Herald, in cele- 
bration of the exploit of Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts, 
the first two American soldiers to win the Croix de Guerre. — 
Copyrig-ht, 1918, by New York Herald Co. 



CHAPTER I 

HOW THE GREAT Y/AR CAME TO AMERICA 

The Underlying Causes of the War — Racial Hatreds and National 
Enmities — Germany's Ambition to Ride the World — The Gather- 
ing of the War Clouds — Germany's Attempt to Stir Up Trouble 
Between the United States and Mexico — Events thai Led to 
America's Participation in the War. 

As all the world now realizes, tlie Great War which came to an 
end by the surrender of Germany and the signing of an Armistice 
on November 11, 1918, had its roots in racial hatred and inter- 
national jealousy between the peoples and rulers of different 
European countries. What directly brought on the war was the 
resentment of the Serbians of the effort of the Germanic Austrians 
to rule them. For centuries the oppression of one race by another 
had been going on in Europe. All over Europe there were races 
ruled and exploited by people of another race. The Poles had no 
government of their own, but were divided among Germany, Russia 
and Austria. Italians bitterly resented the rule of Austria over large 
territories, including some great cities, whose population was almost 
wholly Italian. On the west, the French people of Alsace-Lorraine 
were held in subjection by Germany. The Czecho-Slovaks of Bohemia 
were under the control of Austrians; Turkish authority tyrannized 
over the Armenians, and the Lithuanians were the subjects of Rus- 
sian masters. 

Confident of her ability to overcome all resistance, determined 
to reduce still more nations and races to subjection and to extend 
her dominion from the North Sea to the Indian Ocean, Germany 
entered upon this war to crush friend and foe. The whole civilized 
world revolted when the German Government declared that its 
solemn treaty in which it had agreed to the permanent independence 
of Belgium was only *'a scrap of paper," and s6nt its army into that 
neutral country. The invasion of Belgium was the act that brought 

23 



24 . SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

England into the war against Germany; the atrocious treatment of 
the Belgians and the French by the Germans was the moving force 
that stirred the American people and prepared them for this coun- 
try's own entrance into the war even before atrocities committed 
npon our own citizens forced the issue. 

So, in a very literal sense, it may be said that our American 
soldiers of the Negro Race went over to France to fight for the 
liberation of the oppressed peoples of Europe. It was a marvelous 
thing to have occurred, that a race itself so long oppressed should 
have had the opportunity to help save others from oppression ! It is 
something for every man and woman of the Negro race to be proud 
of, that our people did eagerly welcome this opportunity and play 
so glorious a part. The pistol shot which put an end to the life of 
Archduke Francis Ferdinand, heir presumptive to the Austro- 
Hungarian throne, at Serajevo, June 28, 1914, turned Europe into a 
battlefield six weeks later. The Serbians were blamed for the assassi- 
nation, and on July 23 Vienna sent an ultimatum to Belgrade 
demanding the punishment of the offenders and Austria's participa- 
tion in their trial in Serbia. Eussia supported Serbia in rejecting 
the last demand; Germany supported Austria. England, France, 
and even Italy, then the ally of Austria and Germany, suggested 
arbitration by the Great Powers. By treaty Germany was obliged 
to support Austria if attacked by two or more powers, France to 
support Russia for a similar reason, and Italy to support her allies 
in case of a defensive war, 

Germany deemed Russia's mobilization tantamount to a declara- 
tion of war against her and declared war on August 1,' 1914. Alleging 
that France had already begun hostile action against her, Germany 
declared war on France on the third of August and invaded Belgium 
in order to attack France. Great Britain declared war on Germany 
the fourth of August. Italy, deeming Austria the aggressor, pro- 
claimed her neutrality. 

But these were merely the culmination of a long-standing con- 
spiracy on the part of Germany and Austria-Hungary soon to be 
revealed by German propaganda. Germany wished to render France 
impotent and absorb the Germanic provinces of Russia; she would 
then be in a position to coerce Great Britain. Austria-Hungary wished 
to absorb the Balkan Slavs and make her way to the ^gean. For 



HOW THE WAR CAME TO AMERICA 25 

Germany there was a corollary to the success of the Austro-Hun- 
garian scheme, which, by the bribery of Turkey, would establish 
German dominion from the North Sea to the Persian Gulf. In 
November Turkey entered the w^ar on the side of the Central Empires. 
All this was arranged, even to the minutest detail, at the German 
Kaiser's Potsdam conference on July 5, 1914. There it was believed 
that if the corollary did not come into evidence too soon, both Great 
Britain and Italy would remain neutral. That Japan would enter 
the war on account of her treaty with Great Britain was thus dis- 
counted. Germany attempted to defend her position morally on the 
ground that she had been attacked by Eussia on account of the Pan- 
Slavonic ambitions of that empire, and by Great Britain on account 
of the latter 's jealousy of her world trade and industry. She was, 
therefore, ''fighting for her existence." 

Her enemies in defending themselves entered into treaties for 
mutual advantages after the war, in case of the defeat of the Central 
Empires. There was cooperation, but no great unity of action or 
purpose among them. This gave Gennany a great advantage until 
the spring of 1917, when the United States entered the war. That 
event, besides bringing the material deciding factor to the Allies' 
cause, established their war aims upon a world basis of a fight for 
humanity — of republicanism against absolutism, for the rights of 
small nations, and "to make the world safe for democracy." All 
this was to be done by annihilating Prussian militarism and Hohen- 
zollern absolutism. On these humane principles twenty-nine nations 
arrayed themselves against Germany, of which twenty-four declared 
war. 

The war, which brought to the state of practical application the 
principles for which the enemies of Germany have been fighting, 
has been prodigious in geographic and social extent and unprece- 
dented in expenditures of lives and treasure. Through battle, 
atrocities, and massacres it is estimated that 10,000,000 lives have 
been sacrificed; that $50,000,000,000 of property, not including the 
waste of war material, has beeji destroyed in various ways; that 
the productive wealth of the belligerents, which in 1914 was esti- 
mated at $600,000,000,000, has now been mortgaged for over $200,- 
000,000,000, much of which now seems unrecoverable. 

Germany's initial plan was to place France Jiors de combat 



26 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

and tlien obtain a victorious peace over Russia. Austria-Hungary, 
meanwhile, would attend to tlie Balkans. The intervention of Great 
Britain brought this to nought. Germany then directed Turkey to 
attack Egypt and the Suez Canal, and so strangle Great Britain in 
the East. The first act of Great Britain was to isolate the German 
fleet; her second to send an expeditionary force under the command of 
Sir John French to Belgium and France. The Germans advanced 
into France to within fifteen miles of Paris, and were then driven 
back to the Aisne at the battle of the Marne, September 5-12, 1914. 
Eussian armies advanced into East Prussia, w^ere held in the center 
east of Posen, and overran Austrian Galicia. The Turks were de- 
feated at the Suez Canal on February 2-4, 1915. In the following 
April the Austro-Germans began a drive in Galicia, which by the 
following November had carried them eastward to a 450-mile per- 
pendicular extending from near Riga to the Russian frontier. 

Bulgaria and Italy in the War 

From March until October the Allies attempted to gain Con- 
stantinople from the Peninsula of Gallipoli, and then withdrew to 
Saloniki in an attempt to defend Serbia, Bulgaria having joined the 
Central Empires on September 22, Bulgaria overran Serbia and 
established communication between Berlin and Constantinople via 
the Orient Railway. Meanwhile Italy had declared war on Austria 
on May 23, and had invaded Austrian territory, isolating the Tren- 
tino and advancing to the River Isonzo. The Russians, advancing 
through the Caucasus, were defeating the Turks in Armenia. 

The sinking of the Lusitania on May 7, 1915, and the atrocities 
of the Germans in Belgium, the Austrians and Bulgars in Serbia, 
the Turks in Armenia, and the criminal propaganda in the United 
States to prevent supplies from going to the Allies, all tended to 
lower Germany's moral standard in the war. By the naval battle 
off the Falkland Islands on December 8, 1914, Germany's only fleet 
on the high seas had been put out of existence; a similar fate soon 
followed her commerce destroyers, Japan had taken the German- 
leased territory of Kiao-Chau in China, and soon, out of Germany's 
oversea possessions of 1,027,820 square miles, none remained. Japan 
has been fighting down to the end of the war. 



HOW THE WAR CAME TO AMERICA 27 

The second year of the war, 1915-1916, saw the Germans com- 
pleting their occupation of the Balkans down to the Saloniki line 
held by the Allies ; there was a British defeat on the Tigris, with the 
surrender of Kut-el-Amara, on April 28. There were also the battle 
of Verdun, w^hich began on February 21 and cost the Germans half 
a million casualties ; the sea fight off Jutland on May 31, which left 
the British Navy in control of the sea; the battle of tlie Somme in 
France, July 1-November 13, which regained 170 square miles of 
territory and secured several strategic positions which five months 
later forced the great German retreat; General Brusiloff's cam- 
paign on the eastern front, which regained 7,300 square miles of 
territory and captured 358,000 prisoners from June 4 till December, 
191G. 

On August 27, 1916, Eumania entered the war on the side of 
Germany's enemies and by the dawn of 1917 had been crushed. 
In March and April, 1917, took place the German retreat to the 
llindenburg line, which surrendered to France nearly 1,500 square 
miles of territory. There were British victories at the ridges of 
Vimy and Messines, respectively April 19 and June 7, and the 
great attack of the French from Soissons to Eheims, which secured 
100,000 prisoners. In Mesopotamia the British recovered Kut-el- 
Amara and on March 11 occupied Bagdad; the Arab kingdom of 
Hedjaz joined the Allies. 

Political Events of the Third Year 

But the most important events of the third year of the war 
were political, however — the Russian revolution, March 15, and 
the entrance of the United States into the war, April 6. The former 
was brought about without any premeditation by the Cossacks 
refusing to fire on the Petrograd mob and the Duma taking advan- 
tage of the situation and establishing a mild Provisional Govern- 
ment, which opened the country to destructive German propaganda 
and the rise of the anarchy knowTi as Bolshevism. The moral 
and material grievances of the United States against Geraiany 
culminated in a series of revelations showing the latter 's crimin- 
ality. On January 31 she proclaimed her intensified U-boat cam- 
paign, repudiating the promise of May 4, 1916, and on February 
28th came the revelation of the Zimmerman note to Mexico and 



28 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Japan. Up to the time the United States declared war this country 
had lost by the illegal operation of U-boats twenty-two ships, 
amounting to more than 70,000 tons, together with hundreds of 
lives, most of which, however, had been lost on other neutral ships 
or on the passenger ships of Germany's enemies. 

Early in the fourth year of the war, November 7, 1917, saw the 
collapse of the Eussian Provisional Government and the dominance 
of the Bolsheviki. They finally drove Russia from the war by the 
betrayal at Brest-Litovsk, which culminated in the treaty of peace 
of March 3, 1918. Rumania w^as forced to make peace on May 6, 
at Bucharest. 

Other events which occupied the closing months of 1917 were 
equally discouraging for the Allies, whose morale, however, was 
kept firm through the rapidly augmenting evidences of American 
aid, which would be decisive. Even here there was fear that this 
aid could not be brought overseas, due to the intensified action of 
the U-boats, whose toll of merchant shipping for 1917 had been in 
the first quarter 1,619,373 tons ; in the second, 236,934 ; in the third, 
1,494,473; and in the fourth, 1,272,843. And as yet there were no 
sure grounds to believe in the great victories which were to come 
to the Allies a year afterward. 

On the western front the battle of Flanders, which had been 
begun by the British on July 31, ended with the capture of Paschen- 
daele Ridge on the 6th of the following November. There was the 
abortive battle of Cambrai, November 20-December 5. In October 
Retain secured the Chemin des Dames on the Aisne front. Italy 
advanced over the Bainsizza to within 35 miles of Laibach, between 
August 20 and October 1, only to be defeated at Caporetto and 
driven back to the Piave, losing a large part of the Regione of 
Veneto. 

The allied front in Macedonia continued to remain inactive 
save for the excursions of Greek troops, whose new Government 
had entered the war on the side of the Allies on the second of July. 
The war against the Turk, however, showed encouraging signs; 
in Palestine General Allenby captured Jerusalem on the 22nd of 
December; in Mesopotamia General Marshall, who had succeeded 
to the command on the death of Maude on the 18th of November, 



HOW THE WAR CAME TO AMERICA 29 

extended his advance to tbe Euphrates, and was still ascending the 
Tigris toward Mosul. 

Ic was known before 1917 closed that Germany, released from 
war with Eussia, was preparing a great offensive. The Austro- 
German reply to the Pope's peace note of August 1 revealed 
merely a readiness to talk peace on the basis of the military status 
quo. President Wilson, in his reply to the Pope on the 27th of 
September, reaffirmed the great moral issues at stake, but in the 
chancelleries of the Allies in Europe men like the Marquis of 
Lansdowne lowered the morale by constantly asking for the war 
aims of the belligerents, and there was anti-war propaganda abroad. 
France had her Caillaux and Bolo Pacha, Italy her Giolitti, and 
England her Irish Sinn Fein. 

With these distracting and discouraging influences lightened 
only by the hope placed in the United States and the faith that the 
U-boat campaign was being neutralized, the combat was carried for 
three months into 1918 with forebodings for a long war. 

Germany's Last Great Struggle 

Then Germany on March 21, 1918, began her great offensive 
on the western front with the object of separating the British and 
French armies by reaching the Channel ports at the mouth of the 
Somme and then defeating each army in turn and occupying Paris. 
Between March 21 and July 15 her offensive had passed through 
four phases, giving her Lys, the Pieardy and the Marne salients. 
She had stretched a 195-mile front to one of 250. However, the 
Allies held the sectors which bound the salients and also strategic 
positions on their perimeters. Germany's huge losses prevented 
her from proceeding further unless at a given point she could 
break the Allies' line. This in a desperate effort she attempted to 
do on July 15 by driving across the Marne. She failed and began a 
highly organized strategic retreat to save her armies. 

Meanwhile, the Allies had decided, in April, on unity of com- 
mand and had placed the conduct of the war in the hands of Gen- 
eral Foch. The arrival of nearly 1,000,000 American bayonets in 
France gave him the opportunity to organize an army of manoeuvre. 



30 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTOEY 

His attacks begun between Soissons and Chateau- Thierry against 
the Marne salient on July 18 were unceasing down to the time of the 
armistice, steadily pushing the German armies east through Bel- 
gium and north to the French frontier, a series of battles in which 
the First American Army played its full part w^est of the Meuse. 

The series of sledge-hammer blows administered by Foch's 
army began to have their effect not only on the battlefront, but in 
Berlin and Vienna, in Sofia and Constantinople. The enemy w^as 
not reaping the material benefits he had expected to derive from a 
Bolshevist Eussia. There the Czecho-Slovak armies — former 
prisoners of war released by the Provisional Government — ^^vere 
fighting against the Germans and Bolsheviki and were soon joined 
by contingents of the Allies and Russians of the educated class. 
The Allies recognized the belligerency of the Czecho-Slovaks ' coun- 
try — Bohemia — and the national aspirations of the Slavonic sub- 
jects of Austria-Hungary. 

On the 14th of September the allied armies in Macedonia 
under General Franchet d'Esperey made an attack which, on the 
last day of the month, drove Bulgaria to seek unconditional sur- 
render. 

On the 15th of September the forces under General Allenby 
in Palestine annihilated three Turkish armies, which forced the 
Turks out of the war, on the same terms, October 31. 

Austria Sues for Pea.ce 

On the 4th of November, Austria-Hungary, whose note to 
President Wilson on the 5th of October, asking for a peace parley, 
had been rejected on the 15th of October, and which was being 
severely punished by an Italian offensive begun on the 27th of 
October, accepted an armistice which left her helpless, with revolu- 
tionary movements in Vienna, Prague, and elsewhere tending to- 
ward the complete dissolution of the dual monarchy of the Haps- 
burgs. As far back as the 14th of September Austria-Hungary had 
attempted to have all the belligerents meet in conference, and Presi- 
dent Wilson had rejected the proposal on the 17th of September. 

On the 6th of October the new German Chancellor, Prince Max 
of Baden, prepared a peace parley on the basis of the President's 



HOW THE WAR CAME TO AMERICA 31 

14 Articles of January 8 and subsequent utterances of formulae for 
permanent peace. On the 8tli of October President Wilson asked 
for the Chancellor's mandate — did it come from the authorities 
who had begun and carried on the war or from the people? Ger- 
many on the 12tli of October pointed out the reforms that were 
going on in the empire and asked for a mixed commission on the 
evacuation of the occupied territory in Belgium and France. 

To this note President Wilson replied the next day, defining the 
process by which Germany might receive terms for an armistice, but 
insisting that the mandate must come from the German people and 
be preceded by an evacuation of the occupied territories. 

Other notes were exchanged, Germany answering on the 21st 
of October and the President on the 23rd of October; and, respect- 
ively, on the 27th and the 5th of November, when the President 
sent to Germany a memorandum saying that the military advisers 
of the associated governments were prepared to submit to Gemiany 
the terms on which an armistice might be secured. 

On the 8th of November the German commissioners received 
the terms of the armistice at General Foch's headquarters and 
seventy-two hours were allowed them in which to make answer. 
The armistice was signed on November 11, 1918. 



CHAPTER II 

THE CALL TO THE COLORS 

Negro Troops That Were Ready When War Was Declared — The 
Famous 9th and 10th Cavalry, U. 8. Army — The 24th and 25th 
Infantry — National Guard Units of Colored Troops — The 8th 
Illinois — The 15th New York — National Guard Units of Ohio, 
Massachiisetts, Connecticut, Maryland and Tennessee — First 
Separate Battalion of the District of Columbia — How All of 
These Responded to the Call. 

Nearly 400,000 Negro Soldiers served in the United States 
Army in the Great World War. About 367,710 of these came into 
the service through the operation of the Selective Draft Law. How 
this selective draft operated and how the Negro responded to the 
call to the colors, will be discussed in another chapter. It is a matter 
of pride, however, to realize that at the instant of the declaration 
of war, there were nearly 20,000 soldiers of the Negro race in the 
United States, uniformed, armed, equipped, drilled, trained and 
ready to take the field against the foe. Proportionately to the total 
Negro population of America, this was a splendid showing. 

Many of these Negro soldiers of the Regular Army and the 
National Guard had already seen as long and as active service in 
the field as any of the Regular Army or National Guard regiments 
of white soldiers. About 10,000 of these Negro troops that were ready 
when war was declared were in the original four colored regiments 
of the Regular Army. Of these, the most famous are the 9th and 
10th Cavalry. It was the 9th and 10th Cavalry, the Negro troops 
of the U. S. Regular Army, that saved the day at San Juan Hill 
for Colonel Roosevelt's Rough Riders, and helped to give him 
much of his military prestige and fame. The story of the famous 
charge of these black troops who rushed the Spanish stronghold, 
singing ''There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight," is 
a familiar story to everyone. 

32 



THE CALL TO THE COLORS 33 

In the war with Spain, in the Philippines, on the Mexican Bor- 
der, these Negro troops and the two colored infantry regiments of 
the RegTilar Army, the 24th and the 25th, won high distinction and 
merited praise. 

Besides these 10,000 Negro soldiers already in the Regular 
Army, there were nearly 10,000 more in the National Guards of 
several States, such organizations as the 8th Illinois, the 15th New 
York, tEe First Separate Battalion of the District of Columbia, 
the First Separate Company of Maryland, the 9th Battalion of 
Ohio, the First Separate Company of Connecticut, Co. L of Massa- 
chusetts National Guard and Co. G of the Tennessee National Guard. 
Some of these, when the United States became a belligerent in the 
World War, had only recently seen service on the Mexican border. 

In the regular army one colored man, Charles Young, of Wil- 
berforce, Ohio, a graduate of West Point, rose to the rank of 
Colonel, prior to his recent retirement the highest rank attained by 
any colored man. Benjamin Oliver Davis, of Washington, D. C, 
rose from the ranks, entering during the Spanish- American War, 
to Lieutenant-Colonel, and is now stationed with the 9th U. S. 
Cavalry in the Philippines. Walter H. Loring, retired, another 
Washingtonian, served with distinction as bandmaster of the Philip- 
pines Constabulary Band, and is now a Major. Several colored 
chaplains of the Regular Army retired with rank of Major, as did 
one paymaster, Major John R. Lynch, of Chicago. Col. Young was 
U. S. Military Attache in the Republic of Haiti, and Lieut.-Col. 
Davis served in a similar capacity in the Republic of Liberia. 
Quite a number of colored men were Colonels and Majors in the 
various National Guard organizations. 

Colored Guard Units Called 

The Negro people have always taken particular pride in the 
records of the four Regular Army units, and they were gratified 
beyond measure that when war was declared April 6, 1917, there 
became immediately available not only the Regular Army military 
units but also the National Guard units, to which reference has 
been made. 

According to the records of the War Department, the Colored 
National Guard units were called into Federal service as follows: 



34 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

1st Separate Battalion, District of Columbia National Guard, 
March 25, 1917 ; 50 officers, 929 men ; Medical Corps attached with 
5 officers, 21 men. 

1st Separate Company, Maryland, July 25, 1917, 3 officers, 154 
men. 

1st Separate Company, Connecticut, July 31, 1917, 1 officer, 
136 men; 1 officer, 4 men attached. 

1st Separate Company, Massachusetts (Co. L), August 5, 1917, 
3 officers, 150 men. 

9th Separate Battalion, Ohio, August 5, 1917, 14 officers, 600 
men; 1 officer, 7 men attached. 

8th Illinois Eegiment, July 25, 1917, 42 officers, 1,405 men. 

15th New York Regiment, July 25, 1917, 54 otHcers, 2,053 men. 

All of those units were afterwards brought up to full strength. 

The 15th New York went into final training at Camp Wads- 
worth, Spartanburg, S. C, where the New York National Guard 
units were trained; the 8th Illinois went into training at Camp 
Logan, Houston, Texas, along with the Illinois National Guard; 
the Separate Battalion of the State of Ohio at Camp Sheridan, 
Montgomery, Alabama, where the Ohio National Guard units were 
trained; while the various National Guard Companies of Massa- 
chusetts, Maryland, and Tennessee were eventually amalgamated 
with the troops here mentioned at Camp Stuart, Newport News, 
Virginia, from which point these units were sent overseas as mem- 
bers of the 93d Division (Provisional), under command of Brigadier 
General Roy Hoffman. 

At the beginning of the war the War Department apparently 
was uncertain as to just exactly what attitude it should take with 
reference to having Negroes enlist. Eager youths of the race 
volunteered their services, but after the four regular military units 
had been brought up to their proper strength, Negro enlistment 
was discouraged. A sample of the kind of thing which served to 
discourage the colored people in the early days of the war v/as 
reflected in the following Associated Press telegram, which was 
sent out from Richmond, Virginia, April 24, 1917: 

^^ NEGRO EECKUITING HALTED 

''Richmond, Va., April 24. — No more Negroes will be accepted 
for enlistment in the United States Anny at present. This was 



THE CALL TO THE COLORS 35 

the order received by Major Hardeman, officer in charge of the 
recruiting station here, from the War Department. ' Colored organ- 
izations filled,' was the explanation." 

The Negro press and Negro leaders generally became insistent 
and pressure began to reach the War Department from all parts of 
the country to make provision for colored troops. The attitude 
of the Negro people was reflected in the editorial expressions of 
the colored ne^vspapers. Up to the time of the war there had 
been among colored people generally a great deal of hostility to 
the administration at Washington, wiiich was regarded as un- 
friendly to them, and this attitude of mind is reflected in many of 
the editorial expressions which then appeared in the colored news- 
papers. 

Negro Troops in the Post of Honor 

Of particular interest to Negro Americans, however, is the 
fact that on March 25, 1917, the Secretary of War, by order of the 
President, called the First Separate Battalion, District of Columbia 
Infantry, National Guard, to the colors to defend the National 
Capital. This was even before a formal declaration of war. The 
telegram follows: 

WAR DEPARTMENT TELEGRAM. 

Official Business 
Washington, D. C. 
2557669 AGO 

March 25, 1917. 
To Brigadier-General William E. Harvey, 

Commanding General District of Columbia National Guard, 

Washington, District of Columbia. 
Having in viev^ the necessity of affording a more perfect protection 
against the interference with postal, commercial, and military channels and 
instrumentalities of the United States in the District of Columbia and being 
unable with the regular troops available at his com.mand to insure the faith- 
ful execution of the laws of the Union in this regard, the President har, 
thought proper to exercise the authority vested in him by the Constitution 
and laws and to call out the National Guard necessary for the purpose. 

I am, in consequence, instructed by the President to call into the service 
of the United States forthwith, through you, the followhig units of the 



d6 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

National Guard of the District of Columbia, which the President desires 
shall be assembled at the places to be designated to you by the Commanding 
General, Eastern Department, now at Governor's Island, New York, and 
which said Commanding General has been directed to communicate to you: 

First Separate Battalion District of Columbia Infantry, National Guard. 

(Signed) Newton D. Baker, 

Secretar^^ of "War. 

Brigadier-General Harvey at once issued orders for tlie First 
Separate Battalion to be mobilized for instruction and muster. 
Before breakfast following the issuance of this order of March 25, 
1917, the entire strength of the battalion was ready for orders and 
assembled at its armory under command of Major James E. 
Walker, a colored officer. 

The battalion was placed in charge of watching the water sup- 
ply system, guarding six immense reservoirs, the Potomac Eiver 
projects, and the various power plants of the District of Columbia, 
to counter any possible scheme of enemy aliens interfering with 
these projects and various utilities. 

The colored Americans of the District of Columbia and all 
Washington regarded this assignment of the First Separate Bat- 
talion to guard duty within the shadow of the White Hourje as a 
compliment not exceeded by any since the Negro became a full- 
fledged citizen of the American Republic. The duty of protecting 
life and property in the Nation's capital was regarded by them 
as being comparable to the assignments usually given the guard 
regiments in England, where men of undoubted loyalty and integ- 
rity are given the sacred obligation of protecting St. James's 
Palace, Westminster Abbey, the Tower of London, and the Houses 
of Parliament, the places that stand nearest to the welfare and 
dignity of the British crown. 

The men of the First Separate Battalion and the colored citi- 
zens of the District of Columbia, and of the whole United States, 
regarded the call of the First Separate Battalion to the colors as 
having in it a special compliment from another point of view. It 
was highly significant that their very color which vTas the basis 
of discrimination in time of peace was considered prima facie evi- 
dence of unquestionable loyalty in time of war. 



THE CALL TO THE COLORS 37 

In this battalion there were to be found no hyphenates. In 
fact, the Negro has always proved himself to be 100-per-cent 
American, without alien sympathies and without hyphenate alle- 
giance. The fact that a colored military unit was placed in this 
first honor post, to protect the President, the Congress, and the 
great Executive Departments of the Nation, as well as the vital 
supply stations that make for the health, happiness, and personal 
security of the capital of the American Republic, was hn honor 
keenly appreciated. 

At about the time that the First Separate Battalion was called 
out to guard the National Capital the Baltimore Sun, a white news- 
paper, contained the following expression: 

"The Afro- American is the only hyphenate, we believe, 
who has not been suspected of a divided allegiance." 

It was altogether natural that there should be speculation 
among both white and colored citizens as to why this particular 
regiment should be the first called to the colors on the eve of the 
great war declaration. Probably the editorial expression of the 
Baltimore (Maryland) "Afro-American" may be quoted as to the 
speculative attitude at least, of colored Americans, which was as 
follows : 

"why this particular honor?" 

"Washington, D. C, has assumed a rather warlike aspect through the 
calling out of the National Guard to keep an eye on the railway bridges 
in and around the city, the public buildings, and the water and lighting 
systems. Strangely enough the First Separate Battalion of colored troop- 
ers were mustered in to perform this service, and by this time have per- 
haps taken the oath, which will incorporate them into the ranks of the 
regulars. 

"In answer to this question of why such honor should be conferred 
upon the colored troops when the white national guards of the same city 
are more nearly prepared — the Separate Battalion is still w^earing its old 
blue uniforms — many explanations have been heard in the capital city. 

"There are some who have in mind President Wilson's statement that 
great care should be exercised in calling out the Guardsmen, and every 
precaution taken that the industrial plants of the country might not suffer 
by premature loss of workers belonging to the Guards. Should this be 



38 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

the explanation of the Government's move in Washington, then Maryland, 
New York, Pennsylvania, and Illinois might also expect that their colored 
troopers will be the first to be called into service. 

"However, there is also another whisper going the rounds in the cap- 
ital of the nation, to the effect that the white regiments of the National 
Guards have so many foreigners and especially Germans belonging that the 
Government was afraid to entrust to them the task of watching over Gov- 
ernmental buildings of such immense importance as the Capitol, White 
House and the houses where the various departments transact their business. 
It is said that a white trooper on guard at some strategic point might be a 
German-American and be persuaded to let pass a German confederate 
armed with dynamite to blow up the Capitol. On the other hand, the col- 
ored troopers are known to be loyal Americans, and the army officials are 
certain that no one can pass their lines, not even the Commanding Gen- 
eral, unless he has the password. 

"For loyalty of this kind our country ought to be willing to pay some- 
thing. It ought to be willing to pay the price of having its loyal colored 
men educated for commissioned ofiicers in the very best schools in the 
nation; it ought to be willing to pay the price of having these citizens en- 
joy every right and privilege that German- Americans or any others enjoy; 
it ought even to be willing to have trustworthy colored ofiicers command 
regiments of white men, v/hich may not be regarded as quite so trustworthy^ 

"Our Government will do these things, if the Negro will regard his 
loyalty as an asset, to be sold at the price of citizenship." 

Major James E, Walker, the colored officer who was iu com- 
mand of the First Separate Battalion, District of Columbia Infantry 
National Guard, when it was called to guard the National Capital, 
was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, September 7, 1874. He 
attended the public schools and was graduated from the high and 
normal schools of the District of Colmnbia. He was connected Avith 
the public schools of the District for more than twenty-four years 
as a teacher and supervisor of the Thirteenth Division and served 
as such until ordered to the Mexican border with the District of 
Columbia National Guard in 1916. 

His military services began in 1896, when he was appointed first 
lieutenant in the First Separate Battalion of the National Guard 
of the District of Columbia. In 1909 he was commissioned cap- 
tain; in 1912, by and through a competitive examination, he was 



THE CALL TO THE COLORS 39 

commissioned major, after the resignation of Major, now Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel, Arthur Brooks. 

The First Separate Battalion, under Major Walker, was the 
first unit of the District National Guard to be recruited to war 
strength in Washington City, and they were among the first troops 
to be sent to the Mexican border at the time war threatened be- 
tween Mexico and the United States in 1916. They immediately 
relieved the troops of the regular army and were assigned to the 
duty of guarding the water works at Naco, Arizona, which supplied 
five or six towns in the vicinity. Aside from his duties there as 
battalion commander, Major Walker was selected to act as intelli- 
gence officer for the Government. 

On March 25, 1917, the battalion was called on to guard the 
National Capital, and it was there that the constant vigil of Major 
Walker began its inroads on his health. He realized that in select- 
ing his command to safely guard the National Capital, with its 
public buildings, water supply, railroads and all other important 
facilities, the Government was prompted in its selection by the 
high rate of efficiency and undoubted loyalty which his battalion 
had established for itself, and in order to continue in this high 
regard, he sacrificed health and everything else save that which 
makes for the true soldier — duty. 

He was ordered to Fort Bayard, New Mexico, to the United 
States hospital, for treatment, hoping to regain his health. How- 
ever the best medical skill w^as of no avail and he died, April 4, 
1918, the first officer of the military forces of the District of 
Columbia to give his life for the Nation and world-democracy. 
His remains were sent home with military escort, and his body was 
interred in Arlington National Cemetery. 

His funeral, which was conducted from the Nineteenth Street 
Baptist Church, Washingion, D. C, of which Eev. W. H. Brooks is 
pastor, was attended by a large proportion of the colored citizen- 
ship of the District of Columbia, who, despite the cold, bleak day, 
followed his remains to Arlington Cemetery. 



CHAPTER III 

OFFICIAL RECOGNITION OF THE NEGRO'S 
INTEREST 

Appomtment of Emmett J. ScoU as Special Assistant to the Secre- 
tary of War — Difficulties Encowitered in Estahlishing Negro's 
Status— Opportunities Afforded for Effective Work on Behalf 
of Colored Soldiers— Better Opportunities for Negro Officers, 
Soldiers, Nurses, Surgeons and Others Obtained Through This 
Official Connection. 

On October 5, 1917, the Official Bulletin (published under the 
direction of the Committee on Public Information), and the Asso- 
ciated Press, carried the following announcement: 

''ADVISOR TO WAR DEPARTMENT 
** Secretary Newton D. Baker of the War Department announces 
that Emmett J. Scott, for eighteen years confidential secretary to 
the late Booker T. Washington, and at present secretary of the 
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute for Negroes, has been 
assigned to duty in the War Department as confidential advisor in 
matters affecting the interests of the 10,000,000 Negroes of the 
United States, and the part they are to play in connection with the 
present war." 

This was the first intimation that the Secretary of War had 
been giving attention to the matter of calling to his side a colored 
man to advise with him matters concerning colored soldiers and 
colored Americans generally. There has been very great curiosity 
on the part of a great many people as to how this appointment came 
about. 

Unfortunately, at the outbreak of the war with Germany there 
seemed to be in America an epidemic of racial disturbances, such as 

40 



RECOGNITION OF THE NEGRO'S INTEREST 41 

friction due to the rapid emigration of Negro labor from the South 
to the North, lynchings of Negro men and women in a number of 
the states, etc., all of which disturbances were seized upon and mag- 
nified through the lens of a well-directed German propaganda, with 
the manifest purpose of stirring up a feeUng of bitterness and 
unrest among both white and colored Americans. There is ample 
evidence to support the statement that pro-German influence was 
for a time diligently at work in the vain effort to dampen the ardor 
and cool the patriotism of Negro Americans and to thus make them 
careless or indifferent in support of their country's war program. 
With a view to stabilizing conditions, as an earnest of the Govern- 
ment's desire to secure the unqualified support of all classes of 
American citizens, and evidently for the special purpose of reassur- 
ing Negroes throughout the country that the Government in general, 
and the War Department in particular entertained a friendly and 
just attitude toward them, a representative member of that racial 
group was appointed by Secretary Baker to serve with him as Spe- 
cial Assistant during the period of the war. 

My designation was due primarily to a call during the month 
of August, 1917, by Dr. Robert R. Moton, Principal of Tuskegee 
Institute, upon the Secretary of War, in which he pointed out the 
need and necessity of having in the War Department a colored man 
in touch with Northern and Southern white people and colored peo- 
ple, who could advise whenever delicate questions arose affecting 
the interests of the colored people of the United States. Dr. Moton 
sought to convey the heartening impulse which would come to the 
colored people of the country if the Government during its period of 
war should in this direct Avay recognize the racial group of which 
he is himself an honored member. 

Correspondence with Julius Rosenwald. 

Prior to Dr. Moton 's call at the War Department to confer 
with the Secretary of War, the author had been in direct corre- 
spondence with Mr. Julius Rosenwald, a member of the Advisory 
Board of the Council of National Defense, to whom he addressed 
a letter under date of March 24, 1917, reading as follows : 



42 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, March 24, 1917. 
Mr. Julius Rosenwald, 
Member National Defense Board, 
Washington, D. C. 
Dear Mr. Rosenwald: 

I have not been in the slightest degree confused as to what attitude 
the Negro people should assume in connection with the present threatened 
v\'^ar situation, but I have been somewhat concerned at what the attitude 
of the Administration will be wdth respect to the Negro people. There are 
ten millions of us in this country — the only country to which we owe 
allegiance, etc. 

You will note by the attached interview which was sent out by the 
Associated Press last summer following the Carrizal incident, what I 
had to say respecting the threatened trouble with Mexico. The Negro 
people feel just the same way wdth respect to the German situation. 

The point of this letter, then, is to ask you as a member of the National 
Defense Board as to whether or not you wall carefully bear in mind what 
I have written, and command me and all of us here at Tuskegee m.ost 
freely in connection with any and all situations in which Ave can be of 
service during this crucial hour. 

In all former wars in which they have participated, the Negro people 
have proved by their courage and valor their willingness to fight for . 
American liberty, and I believe they will respond in like measure in the 
present emergency ; and I also believe that the American people will find 
themselves more and more disposed to accord full appreciation to a people 
who are willing to lay down their lives in defense of democracy and the 
well-being of their great country. 

My responsibilities here at Tuskegee Institute you know about as 
fully as any one else, but I wish you to know at the same time my entire 
Avillingness to serve the present situation in any way that in your opinion 
may seem wise and desirable. 

Yours very truly, 

(Signed) Emmett J. Scott. 

Mr. Rosenwald suggested that the author prepare a resolution 
expressive of the feelings of the colored people that might be 
presented to the Council of National Defense. The answer was as 
follows : 

Tuskegee Institute, Alabama, April 7, 1917. 
Dear Mr. Rosenwald: 

I have your letter of April 4th, and am returning the papers here- 



RECOGNITION OF THE NEGRO'S INTEREST 43 

with, together with revised resolution which I trust may have your 
approval. 

I am very much gratified to learn that the Council of National Defense 
is entirely sympathetic and disposed to pass a resolution of this character. 
It will accomplish very great good. It should be done, however, as you 
say, in just the right way. 

Throughout the South there is considerable apprehension at tliis time 
as to whether or not the Negro people are going to remain loyal to the 
country in this crisis. There need be no fears on this score. As I sought 
to express in my letter of i\Iareh 24, the American people, I believe, will 
be disposed more and more to remove such handicaps and to right 
such injustices as we now struggle against after the settlement of this 
great emergency which now faces our common country. I have referred 
to the patriotism of the Negro rising above wrongs and injustices so 
as to disarm that element of our people who are urging that the Negro 
emphasize his wrongs and injustices so as to force from the Government 
his recognition of his guaranteed rights under the Constitution, etc. lay 
thought and idea is that a sentence of this character \\ill take note of 
the fact that the Negro does labor under certain handicaps and injustices 
and yet rises above it in the face of national emergency and need. I hope 
that the resolution as drafted may have your approval. 

"With best wishes, I am, 

Yours very truly, 

(Signed) Emmett J. Scott. 

The Eesolution as finally drafted and submitted to Mr. Eosen- 
wald follows: 

"1. There are in the United States ten million Negro people. These 
people have shoAvn allegiance to no country other than the United States. 
They are in a peculiar and noble sense the children of a united republic. 
They possess a patriotism which has always risen above wrongs and 
injustices. There are no hyphenates among them. These people take pride 
in the fact that it was the charge of Negro troops at San Juan Hill in 
the Spanish-American War that turned the tide there, and that Negroes 
have fought bravely in every war in which this country has engaged. 
The Negro was with Jackson at New Orleans, with Perry on Lake Erie, 
and 180,000 Negro soldiers served in the Civil War. 

"2. The Government and the people of the United States are deeply 
sensible of the lo3%al support rendered by the Negroes of America to their 
country in past days of national emergency and need. 

"3. Therefore, Be It Resolved, That the Council of National De- 



44 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

fense and the Advisory Commission thereto, in joint conference assembled, 
urge that this Government shall, without regard to racial, political or geo- 
graphical divisions, give due heed to, and exercise appreciation of the past 
loyalty of its Negro citizens and of their eager desire to bear anew a 
generous and helpful part in the common cause of the national defense." 

There were still some doubts and misgivings, however, as to 
whether the Council of National Defense should pass the resolution, 
which led to further correspondence: 

Tuskegee Intitute, Alabama, April 17, 1917. 
My Dear Mr. Rosenwald: 

I do most earnestly urge that the resolutions, preamble and) all, be 
published. My reasons rest on the concrete fact that the opinion pre- 
vails in many quarters that colored men are not desired by the Adminis- 
tration to have any part in the prosecution of this war. For instance, 
as I write, I have before me now a letter just received from a man who 
is probably the most prominent colored physician of Philadelphia, with 
this paragraph: 

The war. There is not much to be said about it. 
Mr. Wilson has plainly shown that he would like to get 
along as much as possible without the Negro. I see in 
tonight's *' Bulletin" that it has been decided for the 
first time in two years to enlist colored men for the reg- 
ular infantry and cavalry. Active enlistment campaigns 
are going on here for crews for various warships, but 
Negroes are not wanted save as waiters and lackeys. 
It is hard to be loyal and patriotic under these circum- 
stances, though it will not do any good to be otherwise. 

This same thing is being said over and over again by other colored 
men, and by many of the colored newspapers of the country. I enclose 
two statements I have just clipped from one of our most prominent 
colored newspapers. I have kept watch on this phase from the beginning, 
and fundamentally this was back of my original communication to you. 

I appreciate the point of view suggested by members of the Council, 
and am of the opinion that what I have here suggested and mentioned) 
bears out the fact that there is an existing feeling that there is ''some 
evidence (or feeling) of discrimination sentiment," if not in action. The 
compelling reasons, in my opinion, overbear the suggested objections. 
I have taken occasion to mention the matter to Dr. Moton and he 
concurs with me in my conclusion. 



RECOGNITION OF THE NEGRO'S INTEREST 45 

With thanks always for your interest and generous support of all 
that concerns us as a race, I am 

Yours very sincerely, 

(Signed) Emmett J. Scott. 

After the Race Was Recognized 

Shortly after the author's appointment as Special Assistant to 
the Secretary of War, hundreds of letters poured into the War 
Department from colored citizens residing in all parts of the 
country, commending Secretary Newton D. Baker for his action in 
selecting a colored man to represent the interests of that racial 
group during the period of the War, and expressing their satisfac- 
tion with the particular choice which had been made. The senti- 
ment of the white South with reference to this appointment is 
best conveyed by the following typical editorial expression which 
appeared in the Mobile News Item, a white newspaper published 
in the heart of the South: ''The appointment is a wise move and 
a wise selection. While the Government is coordinating all the 
interests of the country in the movement to win the war with 
Germany, it should not overlook the colored people. Thousands 
of them have been drafted and are being trained for duty in the 
trenches. They are to wear their country's uniform and represent 
their country in the greatest conflict of all times. Millions will 
stay at home tilling the fields and working in the country's indus- 
tries. They have their problems no less than others, and it is well 
that one who knows them so intimately is to advise the Government 
how to meet these problems." 

The colored newspapers were equally responsive in their 
endorsement of the new policy adopted by Secretary Baker as 
indicated by his appointment of a representative of the Negro 
race to advise him on all matters affecting the interests of that 
particular group during the period of the war, and in numerous 
editorial comments and special articles warmly commended the 
selection. 

Endorsed by Leading Citizens 

Important white Americans, including such representative citi- 
zens as Mr. George Foster Peabody, the New York philanthropist, 



46 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

and Mr. Julius Eosenwald, a member of the Advisory Commission 
of the Council of National Defense, approved the appointment at 
various times and have given the author the warmest encouragement 
and support; without such encouragement and support from 
colored Americans and white Americans alike, it would have been 
most difficult to handle even a small proportion of the many prob- 
lems which came to the office. 

Mr. Eosenwald, in an address at the Tuskegee Normal and 
Industrial Institute, of which he is a trustee, speaking to the 
officers and teachers and students of the school, March 12, 1918, 
said: 

^'In noticing this flag, this Service Flag, hung here in the 
Chapel, I could not help but feel that there ought to be one very 
large star there, because the Secretary of War said to me^ — although 
I was not directly responsible, and I wanted to deny the responsi- 
bility, while I would have been proud to claim it, for Mr. Scott's 
coming into the War Department — but, notwithstanding that, the 
Secretary of War has thanked me over and over again, as a 
Trustee of Tuskegee Institute, for the service he is rendering the 
War Department and the Nation. When the question came up, I 
said that nothing would please me better than to see Mr. Scott in 
Washington, in the War Department, and, of course, none of us 
would question but what we would all be proud of him in that 
work as we always have been in everything he has undertaken. 
There was no question about his making good. That was a fore- 
gone conclusion, and as a Trustee I know you, teachers and 
students of Tuskegee, share that pride with me and the other 
Trustees in having Mr. Scott in that conspicuous position. Cer- 
tainly no prouder honor could come to anyone!" 

Professor Kelly Miller, Dean of the College of Arts and 
Sciences, Howard University, a colored college professor of high 
standing, at a mass meeting of the colored citizens of the District 
of Columbia at the Dunbar High School, October 22, 1917, also in 
referring to the appointment said: 

"The thanks of the race, am^ounting almost to gratitude, are 
due the Secretary of War for his statesmanlike grasp of the situa- 
tion in designating one of our number to help in bringing the race 
into sympathetic understanding and cheerful cooperation with the 



RECOGNITION OF THE NEGRO'S INTEREST 47 

plans and purpose of the Government as tliey relate to the great 
struggle in which the world is now involved. Secretary Baker in 
meeting the impending military emergency has laid the basis of a 
broad and far-reaching statesmanship. I have always contended, 
and shall always contend, that the fundamental grievance of the 
Negro against the American people consists in the fact that he is 
shut out from participation in the making and administering of 
the laws by which he is governed and controlled. The nation 
cannot expect that the Negro will always remain an ardent, enthu- 
siastic citizen, eager to play his part, if he is to be forever shut 
out from equal participation in and protection under the law. It 
is imposing too great a tax upon the docility even of the Negro, 
to make him the victim of harshly enforced discriminatory laws 
and expect that he will forever exhibit this patriotism and loyaltj'- 
with ecstatic enthusiasm and paeans of joy. The race may rest 
assured that its interest will be looked after and safeguarded so 
far as the military situation is concerned as long as Emmett J. 
Scott sits at the council table. 

*'I regard the appointment of Mr. Scott, as Special Assistant 
to the Secretary of War, as the most significant appointment that 
has yet come to the colored race. Other colored men have been 
appointed to high office under different administrations, but the 
appointments have been mainly a reward for political service, or 
representation of a contributing element to party success. Such 
appointments are altogether worthy and desirable, but they are 
not supposed to caiTy with them any particular function affecting 
the welfare of the colored race. The appointment of Mr. Scott, on 
the other hand, is for the express purj^ose of securing the cheer- 
ful cooperation of the Negro race in the accom-plishment of the 
greatest task to which our Government has committed itself. This 
is not merely representation for the sake of political reward, but 
representation carrying with it the vital governmental function." 

Shortly after the appointment of the Special Assistant, letters 
written by a number of representative colored Americans in all 
sections of the country, and representing many of the leading 
Negro organizations, denominations, etc., were received by the 
Secretary of War, to which he made reply similar in tenor to that 
indicated in the correspondence printed below: 



48 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Financial Department of the A. M. E. Chureli, 
Washington, D. C. 

October 8, 1917. 
Hon. Newton D. Baker, 
Secretary of War, 

Washington, D. C. 
Dear Sir: 

Please allow me to express to you my very great delight and appre- 
ciation of your appointment of Mr. Emmett J. Scott as a special assistant 
or aid of the War Department to represent the Colored, race during this 
war period. 

The selection and appointment of capable colored men to such posi- 
tions of trust and responsibility will prove of very great value in the 
work of a proper adjustment of matters so vital to the best interest of 
our common cause. 

This act of yours is a fitting recognition of the Negro's high sense 
of patriotism and faithfulness to duty as well as his fitness and willing- 
ness to contribute his best in mmd and spirit to the cause of right. 

Very sincerely yours, 

(Signed) John R. Hawkins, 
Secretary, Financial Department, A. M. E. Church. 

The Reply- 
War Department 
Washington 
Office of the Secretary of War 

October 9, 1917. 
My Dear Mr. Hawkins: 

I have received, your letter of October 8th and am delighted to 
know that the appointment of Mr. Scott is meeting with such general 
approval among his people. 

I have long known of his splendid character and of his attainments, 
and it is source of comfort to me to know that I can have the benefit 
of his advice more constantly, now that he has accepted a permanent 
relation to my office. Cordially yours, 

(Signed) Newton D. Baker, 

Secretary of War. 
Mr. John R. Hawkins, 

1541 Fourteenth Street N. W. 
Washington, D. C. 




Group of Officers— Reading- left to right— Top Row— 2nd Lt. A. C. Murdough, 350th F. A. ; 

Capt. T. E. Jo.nes, Med. Corps ; 1st Lt. J. H. Scott. 350th F. A. 
Center— 1st Lt. J. W. Love; 1st Lt. G. A. Price, and 1st Lt. Wm. R. Smalls, all of 350th F. A. 
Bottom — 1st Lt. Herbert Harris, Dental Corps ; 1st Lt. J. H. Cooper, 350th F. A. ; 1st Lt 

A. B. McKenzie, Med Corps. 




Above— Dancing School Conducted at K. of C. Building: for Men of Labor Battalion by Louis- 
ville W. C. C. S. ^ ^ f, ^ , T r^^ V, 

BeJoic— Baltimore W. C. C. S. Saturday night dance at the W. C. C. S. Colored Club. 




iS8* 








CeX^^Sncfn "l^^l'r^^r^^^^ -^ 'i""- Bringing up the machine guns, 

with French machine guns '^"^'^^^^^ ^'^h the French Army, drilling under French Officers 




Above — Two Officers Who Won the Croix de Guerre. Capt. Stewart Alexander on the left, 

and Lieut. Frank Robinson, both decorated by the French for conspicuous bravery on the 

field of battle. 
Below — Three Negro Officers Who Won Distinction Overseas. Left to right : Lieut. Wm. 

Andrews, Commanding Negro Casuals, of Chicago ; Lieut. H. A. Rogers of Richmond, Va., 

and Lieut. J. A. Rucker of Natchez, Miss. 




Above— Colored Troops on Sentry Duty Near the Front Lines, 
ieioi;— American Camp for Colored Troops m France. 



RECOGNITION OF THE NEGRO'S INTEREST 49 

Letter of Credentials 

To make my work effective as I went from camp to camp, 
Secretary Baker addressed a letter to Division and Brigade Com- 
manders which was inclusive enough to give me authority to make 
any inquiries I deemed necessary to be made in camps or canton- 
ments regarding conditions affecting Colored Troops. 
The Secretary of War's letter read as follows: 

War Department 

Washington 

Office of the Secretary of War 

November 1, 1917. 
TO DIVISION AND BRIGADE C0M3IANDERS: 

I have appointed Mr. Emmett J. Scott, of Tuskegee Institute, 
Alabama, as a Special Assistant to the Secretary of War, to advise with 
i^espect to the colored people of the United States, colored drafted men, 
and the colored men who constitute units of National Guard Divisions. 

He will be visiting National Army cantonments and National Guard 
camps, and it is my desire that he be given every opportunity to follow 
up the work I have entrusted to his care. 
He will personally present this letter. 

(Signed) Newton D. Baker, 

Secretary of War. 

How the Office Has Functioned 

There was considerable misunderstanding and false impression 
at the beginning as to the real function of the office of ** Special 
Assistant to the Secretary of War, " as to the real scope and limita- 
tions of the appointment, and as to the real purpose that called 
the author to Washington. Judging from thousands of letters he 
received, covering every subject imaginable, and from various 
public comments and utterances during a period of twenty-one 
months, it would seem that he had been appointed a '* Special 
Committee of One" to adjust and settle at once any and all mat- 
ters and difficulties of whatsoever kind and nature which had any 
bearing upon the race problem in America. 

Some of the correspondents, and a few critics, seemed to forget 
that this appointment was never intended to be an immediate cure 
for all of our racial ills in America. My call to the Nation's Cap- 



50 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

ital was to advise in matters affecting primarily the interests of 
colored draftees and colored soldiers, as well as to render counsel 
and assistance in those matters, including the interests of soldiers' 
families and dependents, and, in a sense, the morale of Colored 
Americans generally during the war. Some seemingly failed to 
remember that the race problem in America has been pending ever 
since the Civil War; that certain, phases of that problem have 
remained troublesome and unsolved even in the ordinary times of 
peace in spite of the vigorous and consecrated efforts of prominent 
race leaders who have ably pleaded our race's cause before the 
bar of public opinion for the past fifty years. It was therefore 
manifestly unfair to expect that the mere appointment of a ''Spe- 
cial Assistant to the Secretary of War" would effectually abolish 
overnight all racial discriminations and injustices, some of which 
were sanctioned by law; or that the Special Assistant would be 
able to solve, during twenty-one months of the critical and abnormal 
period of war, all those intricate problems affecting the Negro race 
in America that others were unable to solve in fifty years of peace. 
While the author has never minimized any wrong, nor acted in the 
role of an apologist, nor condoned any injustice visited upon a 
single member of the Negro race, either before or during the recent 
world war, yet he has diligently directed his efforts towards secur- 
ing the best possible results obtainable out of every situation that 
has arisen. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE WORK OF THE SPECIAL ASSISTANT 

Guarding the Interests of Negro Soldiers and Civilimis — Promoting 
a Healthy Morale — Ca^es of Alleged Discrimination Against 
Negro Draftees — The Edward Merchant Case — The John D. 
Wray Case — How Justice Was Secured — A War Department 
Inquiry — Training for Colored Officers. 

At the time that the Special Assistant to the Secretary of 
War was called to Washington, in October, 1917, the war was in 
progress and the first draft law was being enforced. His first 
duties consisted principally in urging the equal and impartial ap- 
plication of the Selective Service Regulations to black men and 
white men alike, and formulating plans calculated to promote a 
healthy morale among Negro soldiers and civilians. In his effort 
to properly represent the interests of Negro draftees throughout 
his tenure of office, he received and keenly appreciated the prompt 
and cordial cooperation and support of the Secretary of War and 
of the Provost Marshal General's office. While it is true, and only 
fair to state, that Negro men, in many cases, were not treated as 
equitably and justly as white men in the application of the draft 
law, and that in certain sections they were made victims of many 
errors, irregularities, and injustices in the matter of classifications, 
inductions, etc., yet it is a fact that three Local Draft or Exemption 
Boards were removed from office by the Secretary of War, because 
it was proven that these Exemption Boards had flagrantly violated 
the Selective Service Regulations by discriminating against Negro 
draftees; furthermore, it was ordered that all wrongful classifica- 
tions, etc., made by them should be coiTected forthwith. The 
office was also instnimental in obtaining justice for a large number 
of Negro draftees who sent in countless letters, affidavits, and the 
like, registering their complaints against the unfair treatment of 
various Draft Boards ; and the victories won in their cases, together 

51 



52 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

with tlie wide newspaper publicity connected with the removal of 
three local Draft Boards mentioned above, because of their unfair- 
ness and injustice to Negro men, served as helpful and warning 
precedents and had a most salutary effect in the application of the 
second and third draft laws. 

In handling these numerous cases of alleged discrimination 
and injustice, much correspondence passed between the office of 
the Special Assistant and the office of Provost Marshal General 
E. H. Crowder and numerous telephone messages and personal con- 
ferences were required. 

Some Typical Correspondence 

A small portion of the correspondence in typical cases is 
hereto appended that indicate the efforts made on behalf of Negro 
draftees as well as the sympathetic attitude of the Provost Mar- 
shal Greneral's office in its partially successful effort to correct 
abuses and injustices that arose in the application of the Draft Law 
by various Local Boards: 

Provost Marshal General — Army. 

February 21, 1918. 
Adjutant General, 

Jackson, Mississippi. 

Number 4496. — Case of Edward Merchant of Local Board of Leake 
County, serial number 792, has again been brought to this office. Please 
direct the board to wire at once if they did or did not grant discharge to 
this registrant prior to November 13, and transmit original reply from 
local board by mail after wiring contents. 

(Signed) Crowder. 



State of Mississippi 

The Adjutant General's Office 

Jackson, Miss. 

February 22nd, 1918. 
FROM: Adjutant General Mississippi, 

TO: F. E, Leach, Govt. Appeal Agent, Carthage, Mississippi. 

SUBJECT: Status Edw. Merchant. 

I am directed by the Governor to inform you that the Provost Mar- 
shal General desires the Local Board of Leake County to advise the 
status of Edward Merchant, therefore, please answer the following ques- 
tions on the bottom of this letter. 



WORK OF THE SPECIAL ASSISTANT 53 

Did the local board grant Merchant a discharge from the draft? 
If a discharge was granted, Avas it issued prior to November 13th? 

(Signed) Edw. C. Scales, 

Brigadier General. 



Carthage, Miss., Feb. 23, 1918. 

1st. Records of Local Board show that Edward W. Merchant was 
discharged by them on reconsideration of his claim. 
2nd. Date of discharge is November 7, 1917. 

F. E. Leach, 
Govt. Appeal Agt., Leake County, Miss. 



War Department, Washington. 

February 26, 1918. 
Memorandum for the Provost Marshal-General 's Office : 

Attention of 
Major Roscoe S. Conkling, Judge Advocate. 

With further reference to the case of Edward Merchant, of Leake 
County, Mississippi, Avho was transferred from Camp Pike, Little Rock, 
Arkansas, to Camp Upton, New York, and to your memorandum bearing 
on his case which you forwarded me under date of February 14th. 

I am venturing to raise the question as to whether or not this man 
is not entitled to discharge under the Selective Service Regulations in 
view of the fact that the Local Exemption Board of Leake County, 
Mississippi, — on the 7th day of November, 1917, actually discharged 
EdAvard Merchant, as stated in affidavit filed by H. N. McMillan, Circuit 
Clerk, of said County — notAvithstanding the disinclination of the State 
authorities of Mississippi to recommend such discharge. 

The said EdAvard Merchant, Avhose letter I brought to your atten- 
tion under date of January 25th, states that he has "a mother 50 years 
old and feeble, a wife and baby," and that his wife is pregnant and not 
able to perform any work whatsoever, that he is their only support and 
in the shape they are in it Avill be impossible for the Government alloAV- 
ance to keep them from suffering. This man is also a productive farmer, 
and it appears from all the evidence at hand that the decision of the 
Local Board discharging him was wise and just, and should be affirmed. 

This man's case was up tAvice before the Local Board of Leake 
County, Miss., after Avhich he Avas discharged, and in your memorandum 
to me, of February 9th, you stated: "This was apparently in accordance 
with Compiled Rulings No. 12 (m) of this office, and it appears that the 



54 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

man (referring to Edward Merchant) should have been dischaTged from 
service. ' ' 

In telegram of February 12th, the Provost Marshal General (see 
last clause of telegram) asks the Adjutant General at Jackson, Missis- 
sippi, to "Please advise why Ad)jutant General's office recommended that 
registrant be held to service." I fail to find, in the documents you kindly 
transmitted (and which are hereby returned as requested) any satisfac- 
tory reply to the inquiry above quoted, and in view of the discharge 
granted Edward Merchant by his Local Board (verified by the affidavit of 
the Circuit Court Clerk of Leake County) it does seem that a serious 
injustice has, in some way, been done this registrant, inasmuch as the 
telegram from "Scales" (presumably the Adjutant General of Missis- 
sippi) states "that the records submitted to State headquarters did not 
grant an exemption from the draft." Will you, therefore, kin-dly have 
a full investigation of this case made, and ascertain if the action of the 
Local Board was properly made known to the State authorities. I would 
very much appreciate a further report on the findings in this case, as 
soon as the reasons for ignoring or over-ruling the action of the Local 
Board by the State authorities can be ascertained. 

(Signed) Emmett J. Scott, 
Special Assistant to Secretary of War. 



March 4, 1918. 
FROM: Office of the Provost Marshal General. 

TO: The Adjutant-General of the Army. 

SUBJECT: Case of Edward Merchant, Serial No. 792, Order No. 109, 
Ofahoma, Leake County, Mississippi. 

1. Your attention is respectfully invited to the case of Edward Mer- 
chant, Serial No. 792, Order No. 109, Ofahoma, Leake County, Mississippi, 
inducted into military service by operation of the Selective Service Law 
and forwarded to Camp Pike, thence transferred to Camp Upton, where 
he now is. As a matter of identification, it is stated that Merchant was 
at Base Hospital, Ward G-6, Camp Upton, on February 12th. 

2. This case has been under investigation by this office for more 
than two months, and it appears that on November 7, 1917, after due and 
proper reconsideration of the facts, the local board of the proper juris- 
diction granted a discharge on dependency grounds; that through an 
error or negligence the man was not discharged from service. 

3. It appears that the regular procedure prescribed by the regula- 
tions has been followed up to the point of transmittal of the final recom- 
mendation to the Camp Commander, and that through an error of the 



WORK OF THE SPECIAL ASSISTANT 55 

State headquarters, the man has been held to service. It therefore ap- 
pears that the discharge should have been issued, in due course, more 
than three months ago. 

4. A special request is made that prompt action be taken in this 
matter, as severe hardship and distress is reported to this office from 
various sources, due to this failure of the proper functioning of local 
officials, and that this office be ad\'ised of the final disposition of the case in 
order that it may speedily inform the parties interested. 

E. H. Crowder, 
Provost Marshal General. 
By Roscoe S. Conkling, 
Major, Judge Advocate. 



201 (Merchant, Edward) E. M. 1st Ind. 

War Dept., A. G. 0., March 7, 1918.— To the Commanding General 77th 
Division, Camp Upton, Yaphank, N. Y., for investigation, necessary action 
and report. 

By order of Secretary of War : 

J. W. Riley, 
Adjutant General. 



201 (Merchant, Edward) 2nd Ind. 

Hdq., 77th Division, Camp Upton, New York, March 15, 1918.— To Com- 
manding Officer, 367th Infantry, for compliance with the first indorse- 
ment hereon. 

By Command of Brigadier-General Johnson: 

Louis B. Gebom, 
Capt., Field Artillery, N. A., Asst. to the Adjutant. 



IIIK 3rd Ind. 

Hq. 367th Inf., Camp Upton, N. Y., 19th March 1918.— To Comdg. Gen'l, 

Camp Upton. 

Private Edward Merchant states that on being inducted into the 
service at Camp Pike, he was informed that his certificate of discharge 
on account of dependent relatives was unnecessary, as he was to be dis- 
charged for physical -disability. This not being done, he wrote to his 
mother who appeared before the Board and obtained the certificate which 
is inclosed herewith. 

W. G. DR.VNE, 

Lieutenant-Colonel, 367th Infantry, Administrative Officer. 



56 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

March 28, 1918. 
Memorandum for Colonel Easby-Smith : 

In re Edward' Merchant, Leake County, Miss. 
The discharge of this registrant was recommended by this office in 
our letter of March 4th to the Adjutant General of the Army. We have 
received no advice that such discharge has been granted. 

History of tJie Case 

December 26, 1917, registrant wrote Special Assistant Emmett J. 
Scott of the War Department, stating that his Local Board- had, by order 
of the Adjutant General of Mississippi, reopened his case and granted 
his exemption, November 7, 1917, his discharge was refused by the Camp 
Commander. 

January 25th, Mr. Scott referred the matter to this office. 

February 11th, the Adjutant General of Mississippi advised that the 
Local Board for Leake County had refused to grant exemption to the 
registrant. The certificate of the Secretary of the Local Board showed 
that the discharge of the registrant was recommended by his Local 
Board' on November 7, 1917. 

On February 18th, the matter was presented by Senator Williams. 

On February 27th the Adjutant General advised that their records 
show that the discharge of the registrant was actually recommended on 
November 7, 1917. The error in the case was obviously in the office 
of the Adjutant General of Mississippi. 

March 4th, discharge recommended by this office in letter to The 
Adjutant General of the Army. 

March 22nd, memorandum from Mr. Scott, "Is this in accordance 
with the decision reached?" 

James H. Hughes, Jr., 
1st Lieut., Infantry, R. C. 



The John D. Wray Case 

September 3, 1918. 
Memorandum for Colonel Roscoe S. Conkling, 
Office of the Provost Marshal-General: 
Dear Colonel Conkling: 

Mr. John D. Wray, who is a substantial Negro farmer engaged in 
Cooperative Extension Work, headquarters A. & T. College, Greensboro, 
North Carolina, has written me the enclosed letter concerning certain 
definite cases of alleged injustice to colored draftees in said State, and I 



WORK OF THE SPECIAL ASSISTANT 57 

wish to bring the same to your attention for such investigation as they 
may merit. Sincerely yours, 

(Signed) Emmett J. Scott, 
Special Assistant to Secretary of War. 
Enclosures. 
WHD 



September 9. 1918. 
Honorable Emmett J. Scott, ^^ 

Special Assistant, Office of The Secretary of War. 

Washington, D. C. 
Dear Sir : — Your letter of September 3, with enclosure from Mr. John 
D. Wray attached, has been referred to The Adjutant General of North 
Carolina with instructions to have an immediate investigation made of 
the matters complained of in Mr. Wray's letter and to make a report of 
the results of said investigation. 

Upon receipt of this report you will be further advised. 

(Signed) E. H. Crowder, 

Provost Marshal General. 
By Roscoe S. Conkling, ^ 

Lieut. Colonel, J. A., Chief, Classification Division. 
JDL 



October 11, 1918. 
Mr. Emmett J. Scott, 
Special Assistant, 

Office of the Secretary of War, 
Washington, D. C. 
Dear Sir: 

There is returned hercAvith a letter from John D. Wray of Greens- 
boro, North Carolina, which accompanied your memorandum of the 3rd 
ult., together with photostat copies of reports from the Adjutant General 
of North Carolina and from various Local Boards, relating to the cases 
of the several registrants named in the complaint filed Avith you by 
John D. Wray. 

(Signed) E. H. Crowder, 

Provost Marshal General. 
By Roscoe S. Conkling, 
Lieut. Colonel, J. A., Chief, Classification Division, 
WGdcR^gm 
Ends. 



58 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

War Dept., P. M. G. C, September 9, 1918.— To The Adjutant General, 
Raleigh, N. C. 

1. Referred. 

2. Nothing could be more harmful to the A<iministration of the 
Draft than to have an impression prevail that race discrimination exists 
in any section of the country. 

3. You are requested, therefore, to cause an immediate investigation 
to be made of the matters complained of in the attached letter, and upon 
completion of the investigation, to make a full report to this ofRce. 

4. It is suggested that, in making such investigation, the attached 
letter from Mr. John D. Wray be treated as confidential. 

(Signed) E, H. Crowder, 

Provost Marshal Grcneral. 
By Roscoe S. Conkling, 
Lieut. Colonel, J. A., Chief, Classification Division. 



The following commiinicatioii is typical of the manner in 
which the author took up a number of matters involving injustice 
to colored workers in the departmental service at Washington and 
elsewhere : 

March 21, 1918. 
Memorandum for Dean F. P. Keppel, 3rd Assistant Secretary of "War: 
Dear Dean Keppel : 

I very much hope it will be possible to hold up the suggestion which 
has been made — to eliminate all of the colored messengers who have 
successfully passed the Civil Service examination for that grade, and 
have thereby secured their positions through Civil Service regulations 
in the Procurement Division, Office of Chief of Ordnance, War Depart- 
ment, Washington, D. C. Such a recommendation has been made, and, 
I understand, is being seriously considered. 

It is highly desirable, in my judgment, to ameliorate rather than 
inflame Negro public opinion here at the National Capital by these 
movements and suggestions of one kind or another which seem to 
indicate a willingness to altogether disregard this group of people who 
are striving in every way possible to support our Government. 

(Signed) Emmett J. Scott, 
Special Assistant to Secretary of War. 

Nation's Call to All Alike 

Likewise, in the Camp Lee (Virginia) case, the Special As- 
sistant found hundreds of educated young colored draftees, many 



WORK OF THE SPECIAL ASSISTANT 5^ 

of them college graduates, hailing from some twenty or more of 
the leading educational institutions of our coimtry, all assigned to 
stevedore regiments and labor battalions, without any regard for 
their educational or technical qualifications, limited to the use of 
the spade, pickaxe, and shovel and to the digging of ditches, 
trenches, and the like, instead of being permitted to be trained as 
infantr\Tnen with gun and bayonet. In direct response to repeated 
representations made by the author, hundreds of these men were 
transferred to infantry, artillery, and other units where they could 
more effectively and more agreeably serve their country, and the 
Secretary of War issued the following public statement, which was 
published in The Official Bulletin, of December 4, 1917, indicating 
his attitude with reference to such discriminations: 

^^War Department, 

"Washington, November, 30, 1917. 
"Mr. Emmett J. Seott, 

"Special Assistant, War Department: 

"Referring to various telegrams and letters of protest received at 
the Department, to which you have called my attention, concemmg 
certain alleged discriminations against colored draftees, I wish to say 
that a full investigation of the matters complained of has been ordered. 

"As you know, it has been my policy to discourage discrimination 
against any persons by reason of their race. This policy has been 
adopted not merely as an act of justice to all races that go to make up 
the American people, but also to safeguard the very institutions which 
we are now at the greatest sacrifice engaged in defending and which 
any racial disorders must endanger, 

"At the same time, there is no intention on the part of the War 
Department to undertake at this time to settle the so-called) race ques- 
tion. In this hour of National emergency and need white and colored 
men alike are being called to defend our country's honor. In the very 
nature of the case some must fight in the trenches, while others must 
serve in other capacities behind the firing line. 

"I verj' much regret what seems to be a certain amount of over- 
worked hysteria on the part of some of the complainants who seem to 
think that only colored draftees are being assigned to duty in Service 
Battalions, whereas thousands of white draftees already have been, and 
more of them necessarily will be, assigned to duty in such Service 
Battalions. 

"Some of the complaints or charges of discrimination seem all the 



60 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

more unwarranted in view of the fact that there is far less hazard to 
the life of the soldier connected with the Service Battalion than is true 
in the case of the soldier who faces shot and shell on the firing line. 
Furthermore, the attitude of the War Department toward colored soldiers 
is clearly shown by the following facts: More than 626 of the 1,250 
colored men who completed the course at the Reserve Officers' Training 
Camp, at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, have been commissioned as officers in 
the United States Army, nearly 100 colored physicians and surgeons have 
received commissions as officers in the Medical Reserve Corps, and a full 
fighting force of 30,000 colored soldiers, including representatives in 
practically every branch of military service, will constitute the Ninety- 
second Division, to be detailed for duty in France under General 
Pershing. 

"The relations between the colored and white men in the camps 
containing both have been worked out on a very satisfactory basis, and 
little or no trouble seems likely to arise. All of my reports indicate that 
the colored men are accepting this as an opportunity to serve and not 
an occasion for creating discord or trouble, and white men and officers 
are passing over the question of race difference in a helpful spirit. What 
we need in this emergency is the help of right-thinking people in the 
cities and towns around the camps, and we are getting that cooperation 
so generally that our course seems free from embarrassment if German 
propagandists, who w^ant to make discord by stirring up sensitive feel- 
ings, are simply not allowed to do their work. 

"As a matter of fact, the colored people and the white people in 
this country have lived together now for a good many years and have 
establishedj relationships in the several parts of the country which are 
more or less well organized and acquiesced in. Gradually the colored 
people are acquiring education in the industrial arts, and are rendering 
themselves more and more useful in our civilization and more and more 
entitled to our respect. On the other hand, the white people are coming 
more generally to realize the value of the good citizens among the colored 
people through their industrial importance and their eager desire to 
learn and qualify themselves for usefulness in the country, and this has 
brought about a growth of good feeling, marred, it is true, here and there 
by such incidents as that at Houston and that at East St. Louis, which 
grew out of sad misunderstandings and were perhaps contributed to, 
in at least one of these instances, by the malicious activities of people 
who would rejoice to see any embarrassment come to us as a sign of 
weakness against our enemy. Therefore, imrest among the colored people 
and suspicion of the Government on their part are, by all means, to be 
discouraged at a time like this. 



WORK OF THE SPECIAL ASSISTANT 61 

"We are bending all our energies to the building up of an Army 
to defeat the enemy of democracy and freedom, and the Army we are 
building contains both white and colored men. We are expecting that 
they will all do their duty, and when they have done it they will be 
alike entitled to the gratitude of their country. 

(Signed) "Newton D. Baker, 

"Secretary of War." 

Cases of Unfair Treatment 

Every case of racial discrimination or injustice that was 
brought to official attention, involving either Negro draftees and 
soldiers or Negro war workers and civilians, was taken up and 
brought to the attention of the proper officials of the Government, 
including the War and otlier Departments, the Military Intelli- 
gence Bureau, and in some cases the Department of Justice. The 
Special Assistant to the Secretary of "War regarded all such 
cases of unfair treatment as calculated inevitably to affect the 
morale of the Negro people, the maintenance of which was such 
an essential factor in the winning of the war. 

The official files of the Adjutant-General of the Army, which 
is the administrative branch of the War Department, as well as 
the files of the Office of the Secretary of War, contain scores and 
scores of memoranda which the Special Assistant has submitted 
in the interest of Negro soldiers, Negro chaplains and Negro offi- 
cers in the National Army, now knowni as **The Army of the 
United States." They reveal a strenuous effort to have the worth 
of the Negro as a soldier fitly recognized by the formation of com- 
batant Negro units in addition to the noncombatant units, kno\\Ti 
as Stevedore and Labor battalions and the like, to which latter 
class of military service Negro soldiers, at the beginning of the 
war and regardless of their educational and special qualifications, 
seemed to be disproportionately assigned, if not completely doomed. 
An effort in behalf of the proper training and increased utilization 
of Negro men as infantry and artilleiy officers, as medical officers, 
as chaplains, and of colored women as army nurses and the like, 
likewise, in part, succeeded because it was worthy in itself and 
received the hearty, intelligent, and continuous support of prac- 
tically the entire Negro press of America, to whom the Special 
Assistant to the Secretary of War owes so much personally as 



^ SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

well as officially for tlie most loyal and valuable help rendered 
during Ms tenure of office in the War Department. 

To any one who is acquainted mth the military status of the 
American Negro before the war with Germany, and who is familiar 
with the organized and determined efforts that had to be put 
forth to have the merits and rights of Negro soldiers suitably 
recognized, there must come the conviction that the privileges, 
opportunities, and honors accorded him during the war were, in 
spite of some discouragement, not merely incidental or accidental; 
but were due, in some measure at least, to the fact that the Negro 
soldiers were permitted to have a ''friend at court" who was 
backed up by the best thought and sentiment of the Negro race 
and by influential white friends of that race in formulating and 
carrying forward a constructive program that has given to them 
quite a number of military and other advantages never before 
enjoyed in the history of our country. While the Special Assistant 
to the Secretary of War would not by any means exaggerate the 
importance of the office which he has been holding in the War 
Department, nor assume any credit which does not rightfully 
belong to it, yet it is highly significant and proper -to note the 
contrast between the condition of the Negro in the United States 
at the beginning of the war and the military opportunities and 
advantages which our race acquired during the progress of the 
recent world-wide conflict. 

Before the European war the Negro was represented in only 
two branches of the United States Army, namely, the Ninth and 
Tenth Cavalry, and the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Infantry 
units, comprising all told less than 10,000 men, and less than a 
dozen Negro officers; while during the war, approximately twelve 
hundred (1200) Negro officers were admitted into practically every 
branch of military service, including Field Artillery, Coast Artil- 
lery, Cavalry, Infantry, Engineer Corps, Signal Corps (radio or 
wireless telegraphy, etc.). Medical Corps (physicians, surgeons, 
dentists, etc.). Hospital and Ambulance Corps, Veterinary Corps, 
Sanitary and Ammunition Trains, Stevedore Eegiments, Labor Bat- 
talions, Depot Brigades, and quite a number of them served as 
Regimental Clerks, Surveyors, Draftsmen, Auto Eepairers, Motor 
Truck Operators, several Regimental Adjutants, one or more Judge 



WORK OF THE SPECIAL ASSISTANT 63 

Advocates and a number of Negro Military Intelligence Officers, 
Negro chemists, Negro mechanics; — indeed, the Negro served in 
nearly every branch of the Army with the exception of the Air Sec- 
tion of the Aviation Corps (operating airplanes, etc.). 

These increased opportunities for Negro men and officers 
were not a matter of chance, for they would not have been possible 
if the ''fight for a chance to fight as Negro combat units" had not 
been successful. The Special Assistant to the Secretary of War 
made a systematic effort to mobilize college-trained Negro men for 
Artillery and other technical branches of military service, including 
the 317th Engineer Regiment, the 325th Field Signal Battalion, 
and as Negro officers for the 92nd Division, etc., realizing, as he 
did, the imperative necessity of obtaining the very best material 
his race could afford in trying out this most important, this his- 
toric, and now successful military experiment. Scores of tech- 
nically qualified young men were enabled to consummate their 
desire to render that particular service in the Army for which they 
were best fitted by talent and special training. 

Perhaps one of the most important and far-reaching projects 
developed by the "War Department was the provision for the train- 
ing of nearly 20,000 young colored men in military science and 
tactics, at Government expense, in conjunction with their general 
education, through Students' Army Training Corps and Vocational 
Detachments, established in some twenty or more of the leading 
colored schools, institutes, colleges, and universities of the United 
States. Similar provision has also since been made for the fonna- 
tion of Reserve Officers' Training Corps for colored men in a 
number of colored educational institutions, North and South. 

Another useful function performed by the Special Assistant to 
the Secretary of War, and one which has afforded him as much 
genuine satisfaction as any other service he has rendered in the 
War Department, is the matter of looking after hundreds, if not 
thousands of cases relating to voluntary and compulsory allotments, 
extra Government allowances and compensations, war risk insur- 
ance, and the like, due to the families and dependents of enlisted 
men and of deceased Negro soldiers. The Special Assistant to the 
Secretary of War has personally looked after or handled through 
his office many of these cases pending before the Bureau of War 



64 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Eisk Insurance at Washington, believing that one of the best 
services he could render the Negro soldier was to protect the 
financial interests of his wife, his little ones, or other dependents. 

Training of Colored Ofacers 

Along with many others the Special Assistant to the Secretary 
of War fought for the establishment of the Fort Des Moines Re- 
serve Officers' Training Camp for Negro officers; likewise, after 
his appointment in the War Department, he used every argument 
and resource at his command to induce the War Department to 
make adequate and equal provision for the training of Negro officers 
in connection with the various camps and cantonments where the 
National Army was being developed. Never before in the history 
of our country did we have a Special Officers' Training Camp for 
the training of Negro officers, to serve in the United States Army, 
like the one which was conducted by Army officers at Fort Des 
Moines, Iowa, from June 15 to October 15, 1917, where nearly 700 
Negro officers were commissioned; or like the Third, Fourth and 
Fifth Series of Eeserve Officers' Training Camps that were later 
conducted for the benefit of enlisted men, Negroes and whites 
alike, in conjunction with the National Army camps and canton- 
ments throughout the country. 

The admission of Negro officers into Field Artillery units was 
only secured after a struggle. It seemed difficult to convince cer- 
tain subordinate members of Secretary Baker's staff that Negro 
men possessed the mentality and college training considered as a 
necessary prerequisite to being trained as Field Artillery officers, 
but with the creation of the 349th, 350th and 351st Field Artillery 
regiments (all Negro organizations) the '/ice was broken" and 
quite a number of Negro soldiers, hailing from some of the leading 
colleges and universities of America, were trained as artillery 
officers. 

The retirement of Colonel Charles Young from active service 
occasioned much feeling among the colored people. This is referred 
to elsewhere in this volume. Nothing gave the Special Assistant 
to the Secretary of War greater pleasure than to cooperate with the 
friends of Colonel Young to bring about his call to active duty 
again through the following order: 




Above — "The Raw Material of Soldiers." Negroes drawn in the selective draft arriving at the 

cantonment. Compare this photograph with the one below. 

Below — "Six Months Later." American Negro troops marching along a French road toward 

the front. Six months before this picture was taken they were undrilled civilians. 




Above — Arrival of a Bunch of the Chicago Boys. . . 

Below — Happy return of (the old 15th Inf.) New York's famous colored regiment; receiymo 
their shares of cigarettes and chocolate handed out to the boys at the chicken dmner given 
them at 71st Regiment Armory. 




Above — How Our Soldiers Came Home. American Negro troops boarding tlie boat m New York 
Harbor for Camp Merritt, N. J., demobilization camp. 

Below — It is said that tlie Negro, because of iiis constant cheerfulness makes the best soldier. 
However that may' be, it is certain that these three specimens have acquired a reputation for 
being the most zealous workers in their company and are shown as the three prize men oi 
the company. 




Above— One of the big Y. M. C. A. tents near the front in France. The "Y gave the same service 

to the Negro Troops as to the white soldiers. , ^ .^ /. t-v, Tk;r„^^^ 

BeJott;— French Colonial Troops (Senegalese) being drilled in use of rifle grenades on the Marne. 




Above — Baptism for Army Men. Colored troops of the U. S. Army receiving Holy Baptism at 
„. T3 ^ . c ^^^ Norcross Rifle Range, Camp Gordon, Ga. 

Below— Paxt of Squadron "A," 351st Field Artillery, colored troops on the Transport Louisville. 
These men are mostly from Pennsylvania. 




Above — Group of Colored Soldiers of the 369th Infantry as They Returned to X. w York. 
Below — The Negro regiments have proven their fighting worth. During the Franc-o-Ainerican 

offensive several detachments rendered great service for Uncle Sam. Photo from France 

shows group of offlcers of division known as the "Buffaloes." 




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WORK OF THE SPECIAL ASSISTANT 65 

WAR DEPARTMENT. 

The Adjutant General's Office. 

Washington, Nov. 6, 1918. 
FROM: The Adjutant General of the Army. 

TO: Col. Charles Young, U. S. Army (retired), 

19121/2 Fourteenth St., N. W., 
Washington, D. C. 
SUBJECT: Assignment. 

The Secretary directs as necessary in the military service that you 
proceed to Camp Grant, Rockford, Illinois, and report in person to the 
Commanding General of that camp for assignment to duty in connection 
with the Colored Development Battalions at Camp Grant. 

William Kelly, Jr., 

Adjutant Generrl. 

One of tlae most important functions of the office of the Special 
Assistant to the Secretary of War was to help maintain a healthy 
morale among Negro soldiers and the twelve million colored Amer- 
icans, whose continued loyalty was so severely tried during the 
war. In cooperation with the Committee on Public Information, he 
conducted a systematic campaign of publicity through the Negro 
press, the Official Bulletin, leading white newspapers and maga- 
zines, etc., which kept the colored people and the country at large 
fully informed as to the aims and policies of the Government and 
especially as to the attitude of the War Department with reference 
to opportunities offered and treatment accorded colored draftees 
and soldiers. This campaign did much to reassure the colored 
soldiers, to maintain the morale of colored Americans generally, 
and to vitalize their efforts toward winning the war. 

While it was not possible to accomplish even a small propor- 
tion of favorable results in all of the matters which arose; and 
while in many instances the full measure of justice was not ac- 
corded Negro soldiers, sailors, and civilians, it yet remains a fact 
that during the whole period of the war the office of Special Assist- 
ant continued to urge a program of One Hundred Per Cent 
Americanism, it sought to obtain for them the fullest measure of 
opportunity possible and to promote friendly feelings between 
white and colored citizens of the country, based upon the highest 
ideals of justice and fair play. 



CHAPTER V 

THE NEGRO IN THE NATIONAL ARMY 

Selective Service Laiv the Most Complete Recognition of the Citi- 
zenship of the Negro, North cmd South — All the Duties and 
Responsibilities of Patriots Imposed Upon the Negro hy the 
Draft Act — Tribute by the Provost Marshal General to the 
Colored Soldier — Assignment of Negro^ Draftees to Canton- 
ments, 

On May 18, 1917, Congress enacted what came to be known 
as the Selective Service law. As stated in the First Report of the 
Provost Marshal General, "It was unequivocal in its terms. It 
boldly recited the military obligations of citizenship. It vested the 
President with the plenary power of prescribing regulations which 
should strike a balance between industrial and economical need on 
the one hand and the military need on the other. It provided that 
men could be summoned for service in the place in which it would 
best suit the common good to call them. It was a measure of un- 
doubted significance and power and flung a fair challenge at the 
feet of those doubters who did not believe that the country would 
respond to a draft upon the man-power of the republic." 

It is of moment to state that on June 5, Registration Day, 
a number of representative colored citizens served as Selective 
Service registrars to the entire satisfaction of the Provost Marshal 
General. There was complaint, however, that so small a number of 
colored men were permitted to serve as Selective Service registrars, 
considering the large number of colored men who were called upon 
to register under the draft. 

Under the first selective draft 9,586,508 men between the ages 
of 21 and 31 were registered; of this number 8,848,882 were whites 
and 737,626 were colored. Thus it appears that the total registra- 
tion of citizens of African descent was nearly eight per cent of 
the entire (racially composite) registration. Of the number of 
white^and colored draftees who were certified for service, official 

66 



THE NEGRO IN THE NATIONAL ARMY 67 

figures sliow that, in the first draft, 75,697 colored men, or 36.23 pei 
cent of tlie total number were called to the colors and served as 
soldiers; while 711,213, or 24.75 per cent of the total number of 
white men certified were called to the colors and served as soldiers. 
On this particular point I quote directly from Provost Marshal 
General Crowder's First Eeport: 

''Thus it appears that out of every 100 colored citizens called 
36 were certified for service and 64 were rejected, exempted or 
discharged; whereas out of every 100 whites called 25 were certi- 
fied for service and 75 were rejected, exempted, or discharged." 

Further drafts during the course of the war led to increas- 
ingly large numbers of whites being called to the colors, and of 
course increasingly large numbers of colored selectmen as well. 
Nineteen months brought the total enrollment for service up to 
twenty-four million (24,000,000), including those who were en- 
rolled under subsequent calls, which were put into operation as 
the result of Congressional legislation, which afterwards enrolled 
even those men who reached the age of 45 years. 

Under the law, as has been stated, no difference was made as 
between white and colored citizens. The citizenship of the Negro 
as provided in the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution was 
fully recognized; color and race were not material, and the regula- 
tions for the purpose of classification did not exempt the Negro. A 
comparison of white and colored registration at the end of the war 
discloses the following facts: That between June 5, 1917, and 
September 12, 1918, there were registered 21,489,470 whites and 
2,290,527 Negroes, the proportion of colored registrants to the whole 
being 9.63 per cent. The figures above, however, do not include 
some 300,000 additional registrants during September and October. 

The Mobilization Division of the Provost Marshal General's 

Office furnished the following table (December 16, 1918), showing 

the total number of white and colored men called under the Selective 

Service Draft Regulations during the entire war as shown by States : 

State White Colored 

Alabama 36,172 25,674 

Arizona 8,308 77 

Arkansas 33,217 17,544 

California 71.026 919 



68 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Colorado 24,178 371 

Connecticut 33,802 941 

Delaware 3,879 1,365 

District of Columbia 6,576 4,000 

Florida 12,769 12,904 

Georgia 34,748 34,303 

Idaho 13,222 95 

Illinois 178,036 6,754 

Indiana 70,701 4,579 

Iowa 70,899 929 

Kansas 43,761 2,127 

Kentucky 48,977 11,320 

Louisiana 29,230 28,711 

Maine 16,415 50 

Maryland 26,211 9,212 

Massachusetts 82,765 1,200 

Michigan 99,027 2,395 

Minnesota ■ 76,406 511 

Mississippi 21,182 24,036 

Missouri 67,920 9,219 

Montana 27,965 198 

Nebraska 31,520 642 

Neva-da 3,227 26 

New Hampshire 9,174 27 

New Jersey 69,974 4,863 

New Mexico 9,082 51 

New York 260,759 6,193 

North Carolina 40,740 20,082 

North Dakota 19,087 87 

Ohio 139,695 7,861 

Oklahoma 61,287 5,694 

Oregon 18,182 QS 

Pennsylvania 197,336 15,392 

Rhode Island 11,785 291 

South Carolina 19,909 25,798 

South Dakota 22,132 62 

Tennessee , 44,405 17,774 

Texas 91,583 31,506 

Utah 11,631 77 

Vermont 7,294 22 

Virginia 37,295 23,541 



THE NEGRO IN THE NATIONAL ARMY 69 

"Washington 30,912 173 

West Virginia 41,362 5,492 

Wisconsin 75,261 224 

Wyoming 8,095 95 

Alaska 1,957 5 

Hawaii 5,523 

Porto Rico 15,787 

Totals 2,442,586 367,710 

Of the colored men wlio were classified, 51. G5 per cent were put 
in Class I, while of the whites between the same dates who were 
registered 32.53 per cent were put in Class I. 

The Provost Marshal General at some length offers an explana- 
tion of the high figures for colored registrants in Class I, but the 
essential fact stands that under the Selective Service Regulations 
51.65 per cent of the colored registration was placed in Class I, 
while only 32.53 per cent of the whites were so classified. The Pro- 
vost Marshal General in his Second Annual Report to the Secretary 
of War discusses ''The Negro in Relation to the Draft." Officially 
he states: 

"The part that has been played by the Negro in the great 
world drama upon which the curtain is now about to fall is but another 
proof of the complete unity of the various elements that go to make 
up this great Nation. Passing through the sad and rigorous expe- 
rience of slavery ; ushered into a sphere of civil and political activity 
where he was to match his endeavors with those of his former 
masters still embittered by defeat, gradually working his way toward 
the achievement of success that would enable both him and the world 
to justify his new life of freedom ; surrounded for over half a century 
of his new life by the spectre of that slavedom through which he had 
for centuries past laboriously toiled; met continuously by the pre- 
judice born of tradition ; still the slave, to a large extent, of super- 
stition fed by ignorance — in the light of this history, some doubt was 
felt and expressed, by the best friends of the Negro, when the call 
came for a draft upon the man-power of the Nation, whether he 
would possess sufficient stamina to measure up to the full duty of 
citizenship, and would give to the Stars and Stripes, that had guar- 
anteed for him the same liberty now sought for all nations and all 



70 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

races, the response tliat was its due. And, on the part of many of 
the leaders of the Negro race, there was apprehension that the sense 
of fair play and fair deahng, which is so essentially an American 
characteristic, would not, nay could not, in a country of such diver- 
sified views, with sectional feeling still slumbering but not dead, be 
meted out to the members of the colored race. 

''How groundless such fears, how ill considered such doubts, 
may be seen from the statistical record of the draft with relation to 
the Negro. His race furnished its quota, and uncomplainingly, yes, 
cheerfully. History, indeed, will be unable to record the fullness 
of his spirit in the war, for the reason that opportunities for enlist- 
ment were not opened to him to the same extent as to the whites. 
But enough can be gathered from the records to show that he was 
filled with the same feeling of patriotism, the same martial spirit, 
that fired his white fellow citizen in the cause for world freedom. 

No Discrimination Shown 

"As a general rule, he was fair in his dealings with draft 
officials; and in the majority of cases, having the assistance of his 
white employers, he was able to present fairly such claims for defer- 
ment or discharge as he may have had, for the consideration of the 
various draft boards. In consequence, there appears to have been 
no racial discrimination made in the determination of his claims. 
Indeed, the proportion of claims granted to claims filed by mem- 
bers of the Negro race compares favorably with the proportion of 
claims granted to members of the white race. 

"That the men of the colored race were as ready to serve as their 
white neighbors is amply proved by the reports from the local 
boards. A Pennsylvania board; remarking upon the eagerness of 
its colored registrants to be inducted, illustrated this by the action 
of one registrant, who, upon learning that his employer had had 
hini placed upon the Emergency fleet list, quit his job. Another 
registrant, who was believed by the board to be above draft age, 
insisted that he was not, and, in stating that he was not married, 
explained that he 'wanted only one war at a time.' 

General Crowder requested a statement as to the cooperation 
shown the office of the Special Assistant to the Secretary of War 
by the Provost Marshal General's office in the matter of selective 



THE NEGRO IN THE NATIONAL ARMY 71 

service administration as it affected the Negro people, especially in 
reference to complaints which were from time to time received from 
his office. He quotes in his Report the following extract from a 
memorandum written to him by the Special Assistant under date of 
December 12, 1918 : 

'* 'Throughout my tenure here I have keenly appreciated the 
prompt and cordial co-operation of the Provost Marshal General's 
office with that particular section of the office of the Secretary of 
War especially referred to herein. The Provost Marshal General's 
office has carefully investigated and has furnished full and complete 
reports in each and every complaint or case referred to it for atten- 
tion, involving discrimination, race prejudice, erroneous classifi- 
cation of draftees, etc., and has rectified these complaints whenever 
it was found, upon investigation, that there was just ground for the 
same. Especially in the matter of appljT.ng and carrying out the 
Selective Service Regulations, the Provost Marshal General's Office 
has kept a watchful eye upon certain local exemption boards which 
seemed disinclined to treat Negro draftees on the same basis as 
other Americans subject to the draft law. It is an actual fact that 
in a number of instances, where flagrant violations have occurred 
in the application of the draft law to Negro men in certain sections 
of the country, local exemption boards have been removed bodily 
and new boards have been appointed to supplant them. In several 
instances these boards so appointed have been ordered by the Pro- 
vost Marshal General to reclassify colored men who had been unlaw- 
fully conscripted into the Army or who had been wrongfully classi- 
fied; as a result of this action hundreds of colored men have had 
their complaints remedied and have been properly reclassified.' 

The Special Assistant also ventured in the same memorandum 
which Gen. Crowder quotes, to say: 

** 'In a word, I believe that the Negro's participation in the war, 
his eagerness to serve, and his great courage and demonstrated 
valor across the seas, have given him a new i(Jea of Americanism 
and likemse have given to the white people of our country a new 
idea of his citizenship, his real character and capabilities, and hia 
100 per cent Americanism. Incidentally, the Negro has been helped 
in many ways, physically and mentally and has been made into an 
even more satisfactory asset to the Nation.' " 



72 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

A Problem for the War Depaxtment 

In view of the restiveness which obtained in the South with 
reference to sending colored soldiers into the training camps an 
acute problem was presented to the War Department. Toward the 
latter part of August, 1917, a conference was held to discuss this 
question. It was attended by a number of educators who were in 
Washington for the purpose of being present at an Educational 
Conference which had been called by Hon. P. P. Claxton, United 
States Commissioner of Education, an appointment having been 
made with the Secretary of War, at which conference the whole 
question was discussed at some length. Present were Mr. George 
Foster Peabody, New York, philanthropist and unfaltering friend 
of the Negro; Mr. Oswald Garrison Villard, then editor and o^\mer 
of the New York Evening Post; Dr. T. H. Harris, State Superin- 
tendent of Education for Louisiana; Dr. Thomas Jesse Jones of 
the Phelps-Stokes Fund Foundation; and such prominent colored 
men as Dr. Robert E. Moton, Principal of the Tuskegee Normal and 
Industrial Institute; Dr. John Hope, President of Morehouse Col- 
lege; Bishop George W. Clinton of the A. M. E. Z. Church, and a 
number of others, including the author. This conference Avas fol- 
lowed by another which was held by Mr. Peabody, Dr. Moton, and 
the author, with Messrs. Walter Lippman and Felix Frankfurter, 
who were advising the Secretary of War at that time in matters 
relating to the colored people. At this latter conference it was sub- 
stantially agreed that while the South might object to having col- 
ored men from Northern states sent into the various camps and 
cantonments of the South, it could not well refuse an acceptance 
of the principle of having such colored selectmen as might be called 
in such states trained in the cantonments of the states in which 
they lived. 

Considerable hardship followed, however, as the result of this 
prin<3iple ; as, for instance, while Alabama has a large colored popu- 
lation, colored soldiers were not sent to Camp Sheridan, Alabama, 
where a camp was located, but instead were sent to Iowa, because 
Camp Sheridan was not a cantonment but a camp at which the Ohio 
National Guardsmen were trained, — the colored battalion from Ohi/) 
for a while, along with the whites; but the colored selectmen from 



THE NEGRO IN THE NATIONAL ARMY 73 

Alabama could not be trained at this camp under the program 
agreed upon. Camp Gordon, Atlanta, Ga., however, was called upon 
to accept colored registrants from Georgia because it was a canton- 
ment rather than a camp, and the same thing was true of Camp 
Jackson, South Carolina, to which colored selectmen of South 
Carolina were assigned. 

The first call for colored selectmen was under date of Septem- 
ber 22, 1917, the men being distributed as follows: 

Approximately 

To Camp Devens, Ayer, Mass., its oa\ti colored quota 600 

To Camp Upton, Yaphank, L. I., New York, its o\vn colored quota 5,,800 
To Camp Dix, Wrightstown, N. J., its own colored quota and 

Florida colored quota 4,500 

To Camp Meade, Annapolis Junction, Md., its own colored quota 

and Temiessee colorc-d quota 6,100 

To Camp Lee, Petersburg, Va., its o'uti colored quota 6,300 

To Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio, its own colored quota, and 

Oklahoma colored quota 3,000 

To Camp Jackson, Columbia, S. C, its own colored quota 5,900 

To Camp Gordon, Atlanta, Ga., its own colored quota 9,000 

To Camp Pike, Little Rock, Ark., its ovm colored quota, and 

Louisiana colored quota 9,600 

To Camp Custer, Battle Creek, Mich., its own colored quota 600 

To Camp Grant, Rockford, 111., its own colored quota and North 

Carolina colored quota 7,200 

To Camp Taylor, Louisville, Ky., its OAvn colored quota 3,000 

To Camp Dodge, Des Moines, la., its own colored quota and 

Alabama colored quota 6,600 

To Camp Funston, Ft. Riley, Kas., its own colored quota and 

Mississippi colored quota 8,300 

To Camp Travis, Ft. Sam Houston, Texas, its OAvn colored quota. . 6,500 
To Camp Lewis, Washington, D. C, its own colored quota 400 

Total 83,400 

The effect of the above distribution was in many cases to throw, 
in the beginning, the colored selectmen of Georgia, for instance, 
with some 30,000 selectmen from the North and East; the same 
thing was true at Camp Pike, Arkansas, to which some 30,000 
Western selectmen were first sent. Under this program it was 



74 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

proved that colored and white men could be trained together in 
Southern camps without friction. Long before the nineteen months 
of the war had ended, colored selectmen were being sent into prac- 
tically every camp in the South, and it is a matter of congratulation 
to both races that no such friction and trouble followed as had been 
feared beforehand. 

The draft revealed the fact that the Negro could stand the high 
physical tests of the Selective Service Regulations, a smaller pro- 
portion of his number proportionately being rejected than was true 
of the rest of the composite American population. Americans 
generally were more or less amazed to find that the Negro not only 
stood up physically, but that in many important respects where 
he was supposed to be *'off color" his record stood the test. 



CHAPTER VI 
A CRITICAL SITUATION IN THE CAMPS 

Race Problems that Had to he Solved — Fear of the Southern Whites 
that Trouble would Follow the Training of Negro Troops in 
the South — Situation Complicated by the Houston Riot — Protest 
of the Governor of South Carolina — Dr. Scott Called to Spartan- 
burg, S. C, to Allay Trouble There — Hoiv the Negro Soldier 
Finally Won the Respect and Confidence of the South. 

Secretary Baker would not brook discrimination against colored 
soldiers. It is of official record that at no time during the war 
period did the Secretary of War give countenance to the practice 
of discrimination against colored soldiers because of their race. 
On the contrary, there are many instances which may be cited to 
prove that he was sincerely and vigorously opposed to any exhibi- 
tion of race prejudice, and that officers and men have met with 
severe and condign punishment for acts in contravention of justice 
to the colored defenders of the flag. 

It will be remembered that just after the Houston riot in Texas, 
during the month of August, 1917, there was a common feeling 
throughout the South that no more colored troops should be sta- 
tioned on Southern soil. Many problems, therefore, had to be solved 
in connection with sending the Negro soldiers into the various 
camps. There was the fear, ill concealed in the North as well as in 
the South, that if Negro soldiers, in large numbers, were sent into 
any particular camp they would be a menace to the surrounding- 
population and to peace and order. 

When the time Came to call colored troops under the draft, so 
strongly did some of the Southern States feel on this subject that 
officials and citizens visited Washington to protest against such 
troops being sent into their States for training. This was notably 
tnie of South Carolina, a visit to Washington being made by 
Governor Manning, who most strongly conveyed to the War Depart- 

75 



76 SCOTIA'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

merit tlie feeling of the citizens of that commonwealth. The War 
Department, however, adhered to its policy of sending colored 
units of National Guard organizations to the camps where such 
National Guard Divisions were to be trained, whether it happened 
to be in the North or the South. 

Under this program it so happened that the 8th Illinois Regi- 
ment, colored, was sent with the remainder of the Illinois National 
Guard to Camp Logan, Houston, Texas, where the riot, just referred 
to, had occurred in August of the same year. The 8th Illinois was 
commanded from Colonel to corporal by colored officers. Col. Frank- 
lin A. Denison being in command. The old fires of resentment 
were rekindled and it was difficult to predict what would follow. 
Col. Denison, himself a native of Texas and an attorney who had 
won wide prestige as Assistant City Prosecuting Attorney, and 
afterwards Assistant Corporation Counsel of Chicago, handled his 
men wisely and well, and no outbreaks occurred between the white 
citizens of the town and these colored soldiers who were being- 
trained for service overseas. Week by week during the course of 
the training Col. Denison and his men won the confidence of the 
best white and colored citizenship of the town. He asked for a 
^^ square deal" for his men, and he resolved that they should not 
suffer because of the former riot, with which they had nothing to 
do, although at several places en route to Houston from Illinois 
they were jeered at along the way, stoned in one or two places, 
and a riot was barely averted at a way station in Texas. 

The Ninth Ohio was sent to Camp Sheridan, Montgomery, 
Alabama, the capital of the Confederacy, along with the Ohio 
National Guard Division. Organizations of colored citizens under 
the leadership of Mr. Victor H. Tulane, a trustee of Tuskegee 
Institute and friend and counselor of the late Booker T. Washing- 
ton, took charge of the matter of bringing the colored and white 
people of the city into agreement so that there should be no un- 
toward incident while the Ohio battalion was at Montgomery. 
A change as to sentiment soon followed among the citizens of 
various cities throughout the South where National Guard Camps, 
or National Army Cantonments were located, when the colored 
soldiers began to show by their demeanor that they were bent upon 
serious business and that they were disposed to go about their 



CRITICAL SITUATION IN THE CAMPS 77 

business without molesting the common citizenship, asking only 
that they in turn be not unfairly treated. 

It is to the credit of the South that outside of the common 
friction which always occurs where any group of soldiers are gath- 
ered, whether they be white or black, no clash of the kind feared 
took place during the whole period of the training. City officials, 
judges, and chiefs of police began to speak in the highest terms of 
the men, expressing in nearly every instance great suiprise that 
none of the anticipated troubles had occurred. The relations be- 
tween the colored and white soldiers in the camps, with rare excep- 
tions, were pleasant and friendly; and where those exceptions 
occurred it was due more or less to the policies pursued by such 
authorities as were fearful of untoward results rather than to any 
other reason. 

Shortly after the Special Assistant was called to service, the 
Secretary of War held a conference with Mr. Eaymond B. Fosdick, 
Chairman of the Commission on Training Camp Activities, and 
the author, making a survey of the whole situation with reference 
to the presence of these colored men in the various camps and 
cantonments and expressing the hope and idea that the Commission 
on Training Camp Acti\dties would make full provision for the 
entertainment, recreation, and amusement of colored soldiers, such 
as was being provided for white soldiers. Mr. Fosdick, as the 
responsible executive officer of this important work, most enthusi- 
astically developed and carried out this program. His representa- 
tives in the various States cooperated, more or less slowly to begin 
with, but in the end most enthusiastically, to provide proper recrea- 
tion and amusement for colored as well as for white. It is a fact 
to be noted, however, that the War Camp Community Service 
organization made provision for colored soldiers in only one city 
'during the first seven months after they were drafted, but between 
May, 1918, and August 5 of the same year, six or eight clubs were 
opened in various cities. 

Military Training An Educational Uplift 

While the Field Sig-nal Battalion and some of the Headquarters 
companies of the 92nd Division were composed of specially trained 
enlisted men, and well educated men selected from the draft, there 



78 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

was an amazing amount of illiteracy when the Division was first 
organized. As the trains from the South brought the men into the 
camps during the bleak days of November, 1917, they were a 
spectacle to behold. Hundreds coming directly from the cotton and 
corn fields or the lumber and mining districts— frightened, slow- 
footed, slack-shouldered, many underfed, apprehensive, knowing 
little of the purpose for which they were being assembled and 
possibly caring less— the officers but recently from the training 
camp received them. 

The task of making soldiers of such raw material presented a 
most discouraging problem. Night school with the veriest rudi- 
ments of elementary training and talks on the simple rules of better 
living and army sanitation were conducted by the officers of every 
organization in connection with the daily drill schedules. The 
officers of the 92nd Division determined to make men of this 
material, men capable of occupying a larger place in the community 
life at the same time that they were making soldiers of them, fitted 
to fill the place in a modern fighting machine such as was being built 
by the United States Army. Without exception the men showed 
that they were eager to learn; and as the stoop came out of their 
spines, the shamble from their gait, they learned to read and write 
their names. On the first pay-roll of one regiment of the 92nd 
Division 90 per cent of the men being unable to wi^ite, made their 
marks. Five months of night school eliminated this condition and 
in its place came smartness in drill, cleanliness in billets, discipline, 
a pride in the uniform, respect for the flag, and the ability to sign 
their names to the pay-rolls. When that same regiment which had 
had 90 per cent of its members unable to write their names was on 
its return trip South to be mustered out of the service, Red Cross 
workers in two cities marveled at the improvement in the men's 
appearance, some doubting that they were the same men who had 
passed these points going into the draft. The difference was not 
one of appearance alone, for every one of those same men gave 
Uncle Sam a receipt in his own handwriting for his final pay and 
was capable of correcting any error that might have been made by 
the clerk. 

All of the new influences which the colored soldier met in the 
camp conspired to give him a new vision, and the testimony from 



CRITICAL SITUATION IN THE CAMPS 79 

such widely separated points as Camp Dodge, Ft. Des Moines, Iowa, 
and several of the camps in the South will illustrate the change 
which soon came to be noted as to the conduct and demeanor of the 
colored soldier. 

Collier's Weekly dispatched one of its staff contributors, 
William Slavens McNutt, to make a round of all the camps and 
cantonments and to report conditions as he found them. In one of 
these articles entitled, *' Making Soldiers in Dixie, '^ Mr. McNutt 
devoted considerable space to the description of the change which 
was taking place in the Southern cities and towns, and even in some 
of the Southern camps where colored soldiers and Southern white 
men were being trained for overseas service. In this article Mr. 
McNutt reported visits made by him to two Southern camps and 
paid many compliments to the Negro soldiers because of their 
solemn attitude toward the war and the earnestness with which 
they undertook and passed through the ordeal of training. 

A Situation at Spartanburg, S. C. 

But it was not all easy sailing in all the camps and there was 
considerable jarring from time to time and enlightening wisdom 
and firmness were required to overcome certain threatening situa- 
tions. One of these stands out in my memory particularly just 
now, and is probably being related for the first time. At Spartan- 
burg, South Carolina, where the New York National Guard units 
were being trained, there developed a little trouble. The 15th New 
York Regiment (colored) under command of Col. William Hayward, 
which regiment afterwards came to be known as the 369fh, won 
enduring fame in France, being the first colored combat regiment to 
go overseas. On October 22, 1917, Col. Hayward came personally 
to the War Department to place before it the highly inflammable 
situation existing at Spartanburg, South Carolina, near which city 
Camp Wadsworth was located. Spartanburg is a small Southern 
city which closely follows what are usually regarded as Southern 
traditions and prejudices in the treatment of the Negro. Some of 
its citizens rather felt that something was needed to let the jaunty 
Negro soldiers from New York "know their place," and so one 
Sunday evening when a colored soldier. Noble Sissle by name, 
stepped into a white hotel to buy a New York newspaper, the pro- 



80 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

prietor walked up to liim, it is stated, and with an oath demanded 
to know why he did not remove his hat. Sissle, holding the news- 
paper in one hand and his change in the other, did not quickly 
enough respond to the demand and his hat was knocked from his 
head. When he reached down to pick it up and arose he was all 
but felled by a blow, and as he retreated toward the door was kicked 
by the irate proprietor. On the sidewalk, awaiting Sissle 's return, 
was Lieut. James B. Europe, a colored officer, bandmaster of the 
15th New York Regiment. A group of colored and white militiamen 
''rushed" the hotel, but were "called to attention" by Lieut. 
Europe, who demanded that the crowd disperse. 

The New York militiamen expressed themselves as being vio- 
lently opposed to the treatment which had been visited upon Sissle; 
and so the next night a group of these soldiers banded together and 
began marching to Spartanburg, several miles away, to ''shoot it 
up ' ' as the soldiers at Houston had ' ' shot up ' ' that town after the 
clash with the Houston police in the August preceding. 

It was only because of Col. Hayward's courage and j5rmness in 
overtaking these men, and in safely bringing them back to camp 
that another Houston riot was for the moment averted. 

The feeling grew more and more intense, however, and Col. 
Hayward, to ward off another "situation," came to the "War 
Department. The Special Assistant to the Secretary of War was 
hastily summoned by the Secretary of War and ordered to proceed 
to Spartanburg. The atmosphere, it was easily observed, was 
surcharged. Col. Hayward called his officers together, advised them 
of the object of the mission of the Special Assistant to the Secretary 
of War and had all non-commissioned officers of the regiment 
assemble. Col. Hayward then withdrew and carried with him every 
commissioned officer of the regiment. Non-commissioned officers 
usually prove themselves to be the backbone of a regiment, and it 
was these men that Col. Hayward desired I should address. These 
men and the Special Assistant to the Secretary of War were thus 
left alone to discuss the delicate situation face to face and in the 
frankest way possible. My address to these men was an appeal 
and admonition to do nothing that would bring dishonor or stain 
to the regiment or to the race which they represented; that what- 
ever of violence they should do in the present difficulty would only 



CRITICAL SITUATION IN THE CAMPS 81 

react upon their race throughout the country, and that the situation 
was potentially dangerous, in that it was hardly to be expected 
that the country would stand for another riot of the Houston char- 
acter, despite the fact that the men, when visiting the towm, had 
suffered rebuffs and mistreatment which had tried their patience 
and caused them to wish to visit violence upon the community. 

As the Special Assistant now recalls that dramatic setting in 
the late afternoon of that Fall day, there is nothing in the service 
rendered by him in the War Department which he remembers more 
vividly, or as being more serviceable than that appeal addressed to 
these men, that they should listen to the counsel of patience for the 
Great Cause, even in the face of studied insult and maltreatment. 
Afterward many of the men, with tears streaming down their faces, 
approached him and voiced how bitterly they felt in the face of the 
insults which had been heaped upon them from time to time as they 
passed through the town, but at the same time they told him of 
their willingness to listen to the counsel which had been addressed 
to them for the sake of the Negro race, and for all that was at stake 
for it and the country during the war. 

The War Department faced three situations: It could keep 
the regiment at Camp Wadsworth and face an eruption, and pos- 
sibly further anger the white citizens who were opposing the reten- 
tion of the regiment there, while at the same time inflaming the 
men of the regiment and many of the white New York guardsmen 
who were restive under the treatment accorded the colored soldiers, 
or the regiment could be removed to another camp and thereby 
convey the intimation that whenever any community put forward 
sufficient pressure, the War Department would respond thereto 
and remove soldiers from such location, whether they had given 
provocation for such demand or not. As a third alternative the 
Department could order the regiment overseas. The latter alterna- 
tive was decided upon, and soon after reaching New York the 15th 
New York was on its way overseas. 

The story of its wanderings from camp to camp in America, 
of its ship breaking down after being two days at sea, and of its 
return to New York harbor, of its finally reaching France, and of 
the glorious record it achieved as the 369th Infantry will be re- 
counted again and again by the heroic sui'vivors for years to come. 



CHAPTER YLl 

COLORED OFFICERS AND HOW THEY WERE TRAINED 

First Officers' Training Camp for Colored Men at Fort Des Moines, 
Iowa — Major J. E. Spingarn's Fight for the Establishment of 
This Camp— Methods of Training Reserve Officers — Negro 
Educational Institutions Furnish Personnel — Seven Hundred 
Colored Officers Commissioned at Fort Des Moines. 

While tlie great nations in Europe were flooding the continent 
with human blood, leaders in American political thought saw that 
the United States would sooner or later become a partner in the 
great cataclysm. The weakness of our Army and Navy crystallized 
into a national slogan, ''Preparedness." Accordingly, several 
leading citizens in New York and vicinity organized a civilian camp 
at Plattsburg, N. Y. The purpose of this camp was to fit men to 
take examinations for commissioned officers for the new National 
Army which was inevitable. The Government endorsed the propo- 
sition and furnished aid to the extent of upkeep and living expenses 
during the period of training. 

But ''Plattsburg" was a voluntary — almost a social camp, and 
true to American tradition no colored men could be admitted to 
such a camp with white men. When the United States entered the 
great European war, Congress authorized the establishment of a 
nmnber of training camps for white officers, the number to be left to 
the discretion of the Secretary of War. No provision was made 
for the training of colored officers. After repeated efforts of 
various kinds, a committee composed of representative citizens, 
headed by Dr. Joel E. Spingarn of New York City, held a confer- 
ence with the military authorities. The efforts of the committee 
were fruitless for the time being, at least, and the committee was 
dissolved. The project was later taken up by the students of 
Howard University together with a few members of the faculty 

82 



COLORED OFFICERS AND THEIR TRAINING 83 

and students from other colleges, from Lincoln University, Fisk Uni- 
versity, Atlanta University, Morehouse College, Tuskegee Normal 
and Industrial Institute, Hampton Agricultural and Industrial Insti- 
tute, Virginia Union Seminary, and Morgan College. 

Efforts of Dr. Spingam 

Dr. Joel E. Spingarn consulted Gen. Leonard Wood, who was 
at this time in charge of the Eastern Department, Governor's 
Island, New York, about the establishment of a *'Plattsburg" for 
colored men. General Wood gave assurance that the same aid and 
assistance could be given a camp for colored men that were given 
the camp for white men, provided 200 men of college grade could 
be secured. Dr. Spingarn set out upon a vigorous campaign, send- 
ing letters and circulars in every direction and personally visiting 
Howard University and kindred institutions. Success crowned his 
indefatigable industry, but not without great opposition. 

Dr. Spingarn 's efforts, by many of the important newspapers 
and leaders of the race, were referred to as being designed to 
bring about the establishment of a ''Jim Crow Camp" for training 
colored officers. The agitation grew quite violent at times, par- 
ticularly because of the fact that Dr. Spingarn was Chairman of the 
Executive Committee of the National Association for the Advance- 
ment of Colored People, an organization generally regarded as 
standing uncompromisingly for the rights of the Negro people. In 
his efforts to secure the establishment of this camp Dr. Spingarn 
had the cooperation of his aide, Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, Editor of 
The Crisis, also regarded as an uncompromising champion of the 
Negro, and of Col. Charles Young, United States Army, and such 
virile speakers and leaders as William Pickens and others. The 
agitation among the Negro group and the recognized friends of the 
Negro grew so w^arm that for a while divided counsels threatened 
the establishment of a camp. Whether through a fortunate or 
unfortunate turn of circumstances, while this agitation was at its 
height, Congress declared that a state of war existed between the 
United States and the Imperial German Government. Immediately, 
civilian training camps were abolished and fourteen Government 
camps were established for the training of officers. 

Strange and paradoxical as it may seem, America, while 



84 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

fighting for tlie democratization of the peoples of far-off Europe, 
was denying democracy to a part — an honest, loyal and patriotic 
part— of her citizens at home. Fourteen camps were instituted 
for the training of WHITE officers — none for colored officers, nor 
were colored men admitted to any of the fourteen camps. 

The next best thing seemed to be a separate camp. The 
students were joined by faculty members and an executive com- 
miittee was organized with Prof. T. Montgomery Gregory as Chair- 
man. Colored men ivere fighting the Government in order to wring 
from it permission to fight for it. The President and Deans of the 
University gave full cooperation. A convention of the student body 
was called on Tuesday, May 1, 1917, when money was raised by 
students and faculty for the dispatch of delegates to take up this 
matter with the student bodies of various schools. 

At the suggestion of Prof. Gregory, the Executive Committee 
was transformed into the Central Committee of Negro College 
Men with Mr. C. Benjamin Curley as Secretary, and an office was 
opened in the basement of Howard University Chapel. The work 
was so organized that the secretary was in control of the situation 
at all times and his office became the radiating center from which 
the latest information was flashed throughout the country. Letters 
and telegrams flooded the office in quest of details and instructions. 
The delegates announced success in obtaining in ten days, 1,500 
names to be presented according to agreement, to the War Depart- 
ment as a justification for the appeal for an *' Officers' Reser\'e 
Training Camp for Colored Men." 

Meanwhile the committee interviewed Congressmen, leaving 
a copy of the following card on each Congressman's desk: 

TRAINING CAMP FOB NEGRO OFFICERS 

Our country faces the greatest crisis in its history; the Negro, as ever, 
loyal and patriotic, is anxious to do his full share in the defense and sup- 
port of his country in its fight for democracy. The Negro welcomes the 
opportunity of contributing his full quota to the Federal army now being 
organized. He feels very strongly that these Negro troops should be 
officered by their own men. The following statement presents the facts 
upon which we base our request for an officers' reserve training camp for 
Negroes. 



COLORED OFFICERS AND THEIR TRAINING 85 

1 (a) Fourteen officers' training camps are to be opened on May 14, 
1917, to provide officers for the new Federal Army. 

(b) No officers are to be commissioned unless they receive training in 
one of these fourteen training camps: 

(c) The "War Department has stated that it is impracticable to admit 
Negroes to the fourteen established camps; 

2 (a) The Negro is to furnish his proportionate quota in this army; 

(b) It seems just that the competent and intelligent Negroes should 
have the opportunity to lead these troops; 

(c) One thousand Negro college students and graduates have already 
pledged themselves to enter such a training camp immediately; 

(d) In addition men in the medical profession desire to qualify for 
service in the Medical Corps, and there are other competent men ready to 
qualifj^ for other specialized corps provided for ; 

(e) Records of Negro officers and troops warrant the provision for 
Negro officers to lead Negro troops. 

Lieut. Col. Young, Major Loving 

Capt. Davis Major Walker 

3. Therefore, the Negro race requests the establishment of an officers' 
reserve training camp for Negroes. 

Central Committee of Negro College Men. 

Signed : 

Frank Coleman, Chicago, T, M. Gregorv, Harvard, 

W. Douglas, Lincoln, C. II. Houston, Amherst, 

W. A. Hall, Union, L. H. Russell, Cornell, 

M. H, Curtis, Howard, C. B. Curley, General Secretary, 

Howard University, Washington, D. C. 

Over 300 Senators and Eepresentatives signified approval, and 
the War Department was soon the center of a storm of telephone 
calls and peisonal interviews. 

The colored churches in the District of Columbia were inter- 
ested. Dr. J. E. Moorland advised that the Y. M. C. A. branches 
throughout the country be used as recrniting stations, a valuable 
suggestion which was readily accepted. Frequent mass meetings 
were held by the Howard students; and when additional funds 
were needed a concert was given in the chapel. A little later the 
University Dramatic Club repeated its performance of ''Disraeli" 
through the courtesy of the management of the Howard Theater, 
at which time over $125 was raised. 



86 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

With 1,500 names in the hands of the War Department on 
May 7, the campaign became more heated. Press articles were sent 
out by the committee. The following is one of a large variety: 

^'the colored people op the country making strenuous efforts to secure 
training camp for colored officers. 

Headquarters and Recruiting Station at Howard University. 
"According to the best authorities about 83,000 Negroes will be drafted for 
the New Federal Army. The Negroes welcome this opportunity of serving 
their country, and sharing their full responsibilities in this time of national 
peril. They feel, however, that Negro troops thus raised should be officered 
by men of their own race and are making strenuous efforts to secure a 
training camp in which such officers can be prepared. The War Depart- 
ment has stated that it is impracticable to admit Negroes to the fourteen 
camps for officers to be opened on May 14, 1917. And it has also 
stated that no officers are to be commissioned unless they receive training 
in one of these camps. This means that unless some provision is made 
whereby colored men may be trained for officers these 83,000 Negro troops 
will be officered exclusively by white officers; and that Negroes qualified 
both mentally and physically to serve as officers will be forced under the 
conscription law to serve as privates. The colored man is willing and 
ready to carry out the duties imposed upon him as an American citizen, 
and feels that he should be given the same opportunities in the perform- 
ance of these duties as are given to other American citizens. The Negroes 
from every section are requesting that the Government provide means 
whereby colored officers may be trained. The appeal is just, reasonable, 
and practicable. The proposition is squarely up to the Government. This 
is no time for sectional differences and race prejudice and the highest 
patriotism demands that every American citizen be given the opportunity 
to serve his country in the capacity for which he is best fitted. 

"Over one thousand colored men have sent their names to their 
headquarters at Howard University, and hundreds of others are arriving 
by mail and telegrams. 

"Why should not colored troops be officered by colored men? Their 
records show them to be competent and efficient, and to deny any class of 
citizens the opportunity of rendering its best service belies the very theory 
of our democracy, and the basic principle for which the present war is 
waged. Our American statesmen should frown upon any procedure that 
does not offer an equal opportunity for all at all times, but more especially 
at a time when our country is faced by a foreign foe." 



COLORED OFFICERS AND THEIR TRAINING 87 

An important conference was held in Washington with Dr. 
Robert R. Moton, Principal, and Mr. Emmett J. Scott, Secretary 
of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, by Dean George 
W. Cook and Professor T. Montgomery Gregory of Howard Uni- 
versity and the valued support of Tuskegee Institute enlisted in 
behalf of the Officers' Reserve Training Camp. The work in Con- 
gress w^as kept up. Communications were sent to President Wilson, 
Secretary Lansing, Secretary Baker, and other Cabinet officers. 
Finally there were two important conferences: the one at the 
War College where President Newman of Howard University, 
Deans Miller, Cook and Moore, Professors Tunnell and Gregory, 
Mr. H. E. Moore, Doctors Marshall and Cabannis met and dis- 
cussed the matter with Major Kingman, then head of the War 
College; the other with Secretary Baker the following day, when 
he practically assured the same committee of the establishment 
of the camp. 

"The question of location, it was said, w^as the only remaining 
obstacle; to offset this the grounds and buildings of Howard Uni- 
versity were offered by the authorities, but were not accepted for 
various reasons. The tension was then at its height and just as a 
more extensive campaign was about to be launched President 
Newman was notified that the camp would be established. This 
happened about 7 P. M., May 12, 1917. 

'^The authorization of the camp brought joy unspeakable to 
the hearts of the committee and students. Smiles and handshakes 
soon made the campus seem like an old-fashioned Methodist prayer 
meeting and the news was heralded far and wide. The following 
was sent to all those who had submitted their names: 

*' 'Dear Sir: 

" 'The War Department has announced that a camp to which colored 
men can be admitted to be trained as officers will be established at Fort 
Des Moines, Iowa, June 15th.' Twelve hundred fifty men will be admitted. 
Two hundred fifty will be selected from the regular army and one thou- 
sand from the various states and the District of Columbia on a pro rata 
basis. The camp will be organized and maintained on the same regula- 
tions as all the other camps now in operation. 

" 'There will be recruiting stations throughout the country to which 
applicants must report for physical and mental examinations. The mental 



88 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

training will be rigid and none but thoroughly qualified men ought to 
apply. 

" 'Successful applicants must pay their transportation to the camp. 
They will be reimbursed at the rate of 3^/2 cents per mile from their 
homes to Des Moines by the shortest route. The men will be paid while 
in camp but the exact amount has not yet been determined. Additional 
information will be given to the Press as soon as the War Department 
issues it. "Watch the papers from this date. The race is on trial. Come 
to camp determined to make good. 

" 'Yours truly, 

C. Benj. Curley, 

General Secretary, 
Central Committee of Negro College Men.' 
Howard University, 
Washington, D. C. 
May 23, 1917. 

''Of the 1500 names submitted, these were almost witliout 
exception men from colleges and averaged between 18 and 25. 
The War Department in the interim suggested that in as far as 
possible only men between 25 and 40 be included. This meant 
additional work, but the committee met it cheerfully and aug- 
mented its already widely advertised propaganda by numerous 
press articles. The following is one of the many: 

" 'Howard University, 

" 'Washington, D. C, 

" 'May 24, 1917 
" 'Dear Brother: 

"'A Eeserve Officers' Training Camp, accommodating 1250, at Des 
Moines, Iowa, for Colored men, to start June 15th. Such was the official 
announcement of the War Department last Saturday, May 19th. 

" 'Stop but a moment, brother, and realize what this means. At 
present, we have only three officers of the line in the army; in less than 
four months we shall have 1250 officers. Our due recognition at last. 
But no one who was not in the fight knows what a struggle we had to 
obtain the camp. Only a few of those in authority would support the 
project; most of them did not want to consider it; and the remainder were 
bitterly against it. "Why waste time trying to train Negroes to be 
officers," they said, "when the Negro can't fight unless he is led by white 
officers?" The truth is, the Negro has had no chance to fight under his 



COLORED OFFICERS AND THEIR TRAINING 89 

own leadership. Now the chance has come; the gi'eatest opportunity since 
the Civil War. But what if we fail? Eternal disgrace! Our enemies 
will say forever: "Oh, yes, the Ninth and Tenth were uneducated men; 
but just as soon as the Negro gets a little education he becomes a coward." 
There is a terrible responsibility resting upon us. The Government has 
challenged the Negro race to prove its worth, particularly the worth of its 
educated leaders. We must succeed and pour into the camp in over- 
whelming numbers. Let no man slack. 

" 'Some few people have opposed the camp as a "Jim Crow" camp; 
they say we are sacrificing principle for policy. Let them talk. This 
camp is no more "Jim Crow" than our newspapers, our churches, our 
schools. In fact, it is less "Jim Crow" than our other institutions, for here 
the Government has assured us of exactly the same recognition, treatment, 
instruction and pay as men in any otlier camp get. The Government 
bears all expenses, including transportation, uniform, and keep ; and, in 
addition, pays a salary of not less than $75 a month while in training. 
When commissioned, the lowest salary is $145 a month. But the salary, 
though not to be despised, is not the fundamental element. Our great 
task is to meet the challenge hurled at our race. Can Ave furnish officers 
to lead our own troops into battle; or will they have to go again (and if 
they have to go now, they will go forever) under white officers? 

" 'Let us not mince matters; the race is on trial. It needs every one 
of its red-blooded, sober minded men. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, business 
men, and all men who have graduated from high school. Let the college 
student and graduate come and demonstrate by their presence the prin- 
ciples of virtue and courage learned in the academic halls. Up, brother, 
our race is calling. 

" 'We cannot tell you how to register just now; but in a few days 
v:e shall know everything. What you are to do NOW is to send this letter 
to another brother and tell him to do the same, to pass the word along, and 
to stir up all the enthusiasm in your district. Watch all the papers and 
when you see news distribute it. Look for all bulletins; and, above all, 
be ready! 

" 'Just think a moment how serious the situation is. Peal the war 
tocsin; stand by the race. If we fail, our enemies will dub us COWARDS 
for all time ; and we can never win our rightful place. But if we succeed — 
then eternal success; a mighty and far-reaching step forward; 1250 
Colored Army officers leading Negro troops. Look to the future, brother, 
the vision is glorious! 

" 'Ever your brothers, 
" 'Central Committee op Negro College Men.' " 



90 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

As a result of these persistent efforts a training camp for colored 
officers was authorized by the Secretary of War on the 19th of 
May and soon thereafter the candidates for commissions set out 
for Fort Des Moines, Iowa, where they were to undergo training. 
The Honorable Champ Clark, Speaker of the House of Representa- 
tives, said that this marked ''an epoch in American history and a 
new day for the Negro." 

The student officers were put through weeks of intensive train- 
ing under Col. C. C. Ballon, his staff, and a group of colored non- 
commissioned officers from the four colored regiments of the 
Regular Army. The Presidents and other officers of the various 
colored institutions of learning whose officers, teachers and stu- 
dents were in training visited the camp and spoke to the officer- 
candidates. Dr. George W. Cabannis, a colored physician of 
"Washington, D. C, voluntarily gave up his practice and enlisted 
in the Y. M. C. A. work as a Secretary, and took charge of the 
Y. M. C. A. tent at Ft. Des Moines, working in closest cooperation 
with Col. Ballou and his military aides. 

It was expected that the training would last three months. 
At the end of that period, however, the War Department decided 
to continue training for another month. Suspicion became rife 
among the men; many of them dropped out, giving as a reason 
that **the War Department never intended to commission colored 
men as officers in the army." 

There were only a few of those faint-hearted fellows, however; 
the great majority remained, and on October 14, 1917, Col. W. T. 
Johnson of the Adjutant General's Office arrived at Ft. Des 
Moines with commissions for 639 officers, — 106 captains; 329 first 
lieutenants, and 204 second lieutenants. 

On that day, October 14, 1917, amidst impressive ceremonies, 
the 17th Provisional Training Regiment, as the Fort Des Moines 
Training Camp was called, was formed on the drill-ground facing 
the Administration building; here with bared heads and uplifted 
hands these 639 members of the regiment (the unsuccessful mem- 
bers having been dismissed) took the solemn oath which was 
administered by Col. Johnson, Chief of the Division of Training 
Camps, War Department. 

On the next day, October 15, the successful candidates received 



COLORED OFFICERS AND THEIR TRAINING 91 

eommissions and were ordered to report after fifteen days' leave 
of absence to their respective camps. In equally divided groups 
the 639 officers were sent to the following camps, reporting for 
duty on the 1st of November, 1917; Camp Funston, Kansas; 
Camp Dodge, Iowa; Camp Grant, Illinois; Camp Sherman, Ohio; 
Camp Meade, Maryland; Camp Dix, New Jersey; Camp Upton, 
New York. 

It was at these widely distributed camps that the various units 
of the 92d Division (the authorized colored Division) were trained. 

Some of the difficulties which befell the 92d Division are to be 
ascribed to the fact that the units of the Division were never 
united until they reached France, being trained in the seven camps 
here mentioned; this was true of no other division of the army 
sent overseas. 

On October 15, 1917, impressive exercises were held in the 
Y. M. C. A. tent. Dr. George W. Cabannis of Washington, D. C, 
presiding, following the bestowal of the commissions. A program 
had been hastily arranged. Addresses were made by Brigadier 
General C. C. Ballon, who had started the training at Fort Des 
Moines and who had been made a Brigadier General and assigned 
to Fort Dodge; by Col. Hunt, who had succeeded Col. Ballou in 
charge of the 17th Provisional Training Regiment training camp; 
by Dr. Daniel Hale Williams of Chicago, Illinois, who was present 
as a visitor, and by one or two officers of the 17th Regiment 
Training Camp. The Special Assistant to the Secretary of War 
also spoke upon this occasion, having been detailed by the Secre- 
tary of War to represent him at the exercises in connection with 
the bestov/al of the commissions. 




CHAPTER VIII 

TESATMENT OF NEGRO SOLDIERS IN CAMP 

Men from the South Sent to Northern Camps to Face a Hard 
Winter — Attempts at Biscrimination Against Negro Soldiers 
and Officers — Firm Stand of the Secretary of War Against 
Race Discrimination — General Ballou's "Bidletin No. 35" — 
Members of Draft Boards Dismissed for Discrimination 
Against the Race. 

The treatment of Negro soldiers in the various camps and 
cantonments of the country was a subject much discussed during 
the war, Reports of discrimination against colored soldiers 
because of race and color were heard upon all sides and at times 
the colored people were greatly exercised when alleged situations 
of a particularly outrageous character came to their ears. The 
morale of the race was at times lowered to a degree that was little 
short of dangerous. Prompt and vigorous action, however, on the 
part of officers high in command led to a correction of many of 
the evils complained of, and in this way countless episodes preg- 
nant with the possibility of serious clashes and violent conflicts 
were happily adjusted and no end of trouble thus averted. 

Before going into the analysis of a number of exceptionally 
trying instances of color discrim^ination — incidents that more than 
once attracted nation-wide attention — it might be well to make 
note of the manner in which the colored troops were apportioned 
throughout the country. As was perfectly natural, by virtue of 
the immense Negro population, the South furnished the bulk of 
the colored men called through the selective draft law. If the 
unwritten custom of assigning men to the camps nearest the place 
from which they were drawn had been carried out to the letter, 
the camps in Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and South 
Carolina would have been made up in many cases almost exclu- 
sively of Negro soldiers. For this reason, and to prevent concen- 
tration of over-large contingents of colored soldiers at any one 
camp,— a policy frankly decided upon long before the Special 

92 



TREATMENT OF NEGRO SOLDIERS IN CAMP ^ 93 

Assistant came to the War Department — thousands of colored 
draftees found their way to the North in the fall of 1917, being- 
stationed at Camps Grant, Illinois; Funston, Kansas; Dodge, 
Iowa; Zachary Taylor, Kentucky; Sherman, Ohio; Meade, Mary- 
land; Custer, Michigan; Dix, New Jersey; Upton, New York, and 
Devens, Massachusetts — all of these classed as Northern States 
from the Southern soldiers' climatic standpoint. The climate of 
the North — with its long winter, unusually severe in 1917-18 — 
proved to be the source of much suffering, on account of its deadly 
effect upon colored soldiers bred and born amid the magnolia 
blossoms and in the balmy atmosphere of the ''sunny South." 
These colored soldiers faced the hard winter of 1917 with sinking 
hearts and grave apprehensions, and with an equipment in many 
instances far from adequate, owing to the haste with which the 
preparations for war were made. There was great suffering 
among colored and white soldiers, and the mortality from pneu- 
monia and like troubles was alarmingly heavy among the unacclim- 
atized colored men from the South. Nevertheless, they bore their 
sufferings with a fortitude that approached the heroic. 

It was unjust, but not strange, that there should be many 
attempts at discrimination against Negro officers and soldiers in 
many of the camps, particularly those in the South, and in other 
sections where white soldiers from the South were brought into 
contact with colored troops. Prejudice, based on race, was some- 
thing too deeply implanted in the mental fabric of an element of 
the American people, it seemed, to be overcome over night through 
any pressure the war might bring to bear. Clashes between white 
and colored soldiers happened North and South, after a sporadic 
fashion, but at no time were their clashes so general or persistent 
as to endanger the well-being of the Army as a whole. 

In many sections of the South violent protests against the 
quartering of colored troops were registered with the War Depart- 
ment, and the Governors, Senators, and Representatives of more 
than one State filed formal objections with the President of the 
United States and the War Department, insisting that Negro 
troops be not stationed at the camps within their borders. The 
War Department steadily declined to be moved by these protests 
and pursued unhesitatingly its practice of stationing units of 



94 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

troops, colored and white, at whatever posts the exigencies of the 
service seemed to make their presence expedient or necessary. 
The dignified bearing of the Negro soldiers and their studious 
avoidance of any excesses, however, tended to mollify the feelings 
of the Southern people and they finally began to accept them, not 
as an inescapable burden ''wished upon them," but with genuine 
pride in their progress, declaring that they were a part and parcel 
of the South and should be accorded full credit for their unques- 
tioned valor, patriotism and loyalty. 

The Houston Episode 

The unfortunate episode at Houston, Texas, in 1917, which 
precipitated a so-called ''race riot," in which were involved a 
number of the soldiers of the 24th Infantry, Regular Army, had 
its origin in the prejudice of a portion of the citizens of Houston 
against Negro soldiers, and the reciprocation of this dislike by the 
colored soldiers themselves. The clash that took place in that city 
in August, 1917, marked the beginning of the end of the disorder 
that had obtained throughout the earlier months of the stay of 
the colored troops at Houston, for afterwards, when the Eighth 
Illinois Regiment came to Camp Logan from Chicago and the 
West, there were but few ebullitions of race feeling between the 
whites and the men of the Eighth. The execution of thirteen of 
the colored soldiers implicated in the Houston riot was one of 
the dark spots on the escutcheon of the Army, but it did not 
dampen the ardor of the colored men who went to the front for 
the Stars and Stripes. They realized that neither the meanness 
of those who fomented the riot, nor the undue haste that led to 
the summary execution of the soldiers convicted of being guilty of 
murder and mutiny, was typical of the feeling of the great body 
of the American people, nor of even the large majority of Southern 
white people of real influence and standing. 

Incipient race riots were reported at frequent intervals at 
various stations. North and South. Of these, mention might be 
made of the magnified reports of a fracas said to have occurred 
between Negro soldiers and the police at Newport News, Virginia, 
in September, 1918, and of other affairs of no great seriousness 
that were reported at Camp Upton, Camp Merritt, Camp Grant, 



TREATMENT OP NEGRO SOLDIERS IN CAMP 95 

and one or two others. Many minor encounters grew out of the 
refusal of white soldiers to salute colored officers, and of efforts 
to draw the color line in places of recreation and amusement. 
Most of these cases were adjusted by the commanding officers of 
the army camps. 

At Camp Grant, Illinois, General Thomas H. Barry, Com- 
manding General, faced this question as soon as it was presented. 
A newspaper reporter started a campaign of inquiry among cer- 
tain of the white soldiers to ascertain whether or not they meant 
to salute colored officers. The question began to run through the 
camp, but this reporter was challenged by General Barry in the 
presence of others to cease his activity. The General plainly 
stated that in that particular camp the Commanding Officer desig- 
nated by the War Department alone was in command, without 
the aid of journalistic helpers, and that the only color recognized 
in Camp Grant was to be the ''0. D." — the olive drab of the 
Army uniform. 

How General Bell Acted 

At Camp Upton, New York, General F. Franklin Bell met a 
similar situation without hesitation: 

**Now, gentlemen," said he, ''I am not what you would call 
'a Negro lover.' I have seen service in Texas, and elsewhere in 
the South. Your men have started this trouble. I don't want 
any explanations. These colored men did not start it. It doesn't 
matter how your men feel about these colored men. They are 
United States soldiers. They must and shall be treated as such. 
If you can't take care of your men, I can take care of you; and," 
said he in conclusion, *'if there is any more trouble from your 
men you will be tried, not by a Texas jury but by General Bell, 
and not one of you will leave this camp for overseas." And he 
thus dismissed them. 

General Bell was talking to white officers of a Southern 
regiment that came to Camp Upton. The remarks quoted above 
followed a fracas between white soldiers of this Southern regiment 
and colored soldiers whom the white soldiers attempted to throw 
out of the Hostess House, while he was Commanding General there. 

At Camp Lee, Virginia, General Adelbert Cronkhite was re- 



96 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

ported in the Eichmond, Virginia, daily newspapers and in the 
camp newspaper as saying: 

*'I met some junior officers who said they were not keen on 
saluting Negro officers. They would not feel that way if they 
understood the spirit of the salute. If one of them came from a 
town where there was an old Negro character, one of those old 
fellows who do odd jobs around and is known to everybody, he'd 
at least nod his head and say, 'Howdy, uncle.' Now, suppose 
through some freak of nature this old Negro should be trans- 
planted into an officer's uniform; the salute would be merely 
saying to him 'Howdy, uncle,' in a military way." 

It is fair to say that General Croiikhite disavowed responsi- 
bility for the appearance of a certain article in the Richmond 
Times Dispatch and said that he had never made a statement in 
the way it was quoted in the article. He explained, however, that 
"the idea involved in this statement expressed in becoming lan- 
guage is the expression of my idea and was not based on any 
special case," whatever that may mean! General Cronkhite also 
said that his statement was not an official one and had not there- 
fore been published by him in the official bulletin of the command. 

Attempts at segregation were charged against the Quarter- 
master's Depots at Chicago and at St. Louis, where color dis- 
crimination was alleged in the matter of appointments, promotions, 
and working conditions, and where unfairness was said to exist 
in the withholding from the colored employees of the use of toilet 
facilities, as well as restrictions in the service of the depot restau- 
rants, cafeterias and the like. ^Vhenever these cases were called 
to the attention of the War Department they were carefully 
inquired into, to develop the facts. In more instances than the 
Special Assistant can now recall, remedial action was taken by 
the officials in charge of the stations under criticism. Discriminat- 
ing orders were rescinded, restrictions modified, and favorable 
interpretation of ambiguous regulations was secured in many of 
the cases that came to the War Department. 

Gen. Ballou's Bulletin No. 35 at Camp Funston 

Perhaps no single incident in the camp life of the Army 
attracted so large a measure of attention at the hands of the 




Above — This is how the Western Front in France looked most of the time. The Germans kept 
down in t heir trenches and the Allies in theirs, with barbed wiie enfeanglements of No Man's 
l^and between theio. Negro soldiers with machine guns. 

Below — Another corner of the Fighting Front: American Negro Soldiers and French Colonials fir- 
ing rifle grenades. 




Atove— Wax Camp Community Service, Dance Graduates, Louisville, Ky. 
Below— Wax Camp community Service Workers, Girls' Patriotic League of Louisville, i^y. 




Ahov€ — Afttr the capture uf Cantigny. Colored troops won glory in taking this city from the 
Germans. Photograph shows American Negro soldiers cleaning up the ruins with flame 
throwers and grenades. 

Below — Ames :.-""- Negro soldiers throwing hand grenades from a French trench into No Man's 
Land. 





Above— One of the most important parts of war is keeping up communication with the front. Tele- 
phone lines must be maintained no matter how heavy the enemy's fire. This French Official 
Photograph shows Senegalese troops carrying telephone lines forward to observation posts. 

Below — American Negro Soldiers and French tanks. This is the way the colored infantrymen ad- 
vanced on the Somme. 




Above— Some of the Chicago Girls Welcoming Home One of the Boys of the 370th (Old Sth 

Illinois National Guard). . ^. ,-, . *•,, 

Below— The Salvation Army Draws No Color Line, Soldiers of the 351st Field Artillery are 
receiving candy from Salvation Army lassies, on their return to New York. 




Above- — Negro Troops in Camp in France. This temporary shelter was not far from the front 
line. The men are wearing their trench boots and the top of shelter is covered with branches 
of trees, a form of camouflage intended to prevent detection by enemy aeroplanes. 
Below — Routing the enemy with cold steel. — From Photo and Painting. 



TREATMENT OP NEGRO SOLDIERS IN CAMP 97 

colored people as ''Bulletin No. 35," issued to the officers and 
soldiers of the 92d Division by General C. C. Ballou, commanding 
officer of the Division, with headquarters at Camp Funston, 
Kansas. 

The issuance of the Bulletin came about because of the refusal 
of the manager of a theater at Manhattan, Kansas, to admit a 
sergeant of the 92d Division, because of the possible objection of 
his white patrons. 

The interpretation placed upon the order by most people was 
that General Ballou requested and indirectly "ordered" that 
Negro officers and soldiers refrain from exercising their preroga- 
tives as citizens in the matter of attending places of public amuse- 
ment or recreation, if their presence seemed offensive to the white 
patrons of such resorts and likely to provoke racial friction. The 
colored press was particularly bitter and many newspapers pro- 
nounced the "order" an "insult" to the Negro race. At various 
public gatherings of colored people General Ballou 's resignation 
as connnander of the 92d Division was demanded, and at no time 
during his incumbency as the head of the Division was General 
Ballou able to regain the confidence of the colored masses, with 
whom he had been immensely popular prior to this episode, in 
recognition of his valued and sympathetic services as supervisor 
of the Officers' Training Camp at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, from 
which came 639 colored men, graduating with commissions as 
captains and first and second lieutenants. 

The full text of "Bulletin No. 35," as issued by General 
Ballou was as follows: 

Headquarters 92d Division, 

Camp Funston, Kans., March 28, 1918. 

"1. It should be well known to all colored officers and men that no 
useful purpose is served by such acts as will cause the 'color question' to 
be raised. It is not a question of legal rights, but a question of policy, 
and any policy that tends to bring about a conflict of races, with its 
resulting animosities, is prejudicial to the military interest of the 92d 
Division, and therefore prejudicial to an important interest of the colored 
race. 

"2. To avoid such conflicts the Division Commander has repeatedly 
urged that all colored members of his command, and especially the officers 
and non-commissioned officers, should refrain from going where their 



98 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

presence will be resented. In spite of this injunction, one of the sergeants 
of the Medical Department has recently precipitated the precise trouble 
that should be avoided, and then called on the Division Commander to 
take sides in a row that should never have occurred had the sergeant 
placed the general good above his personal pleasure and convenience. 
This sergeant entered a theater, as he undoubtedly had a legal right to do, 
and precipitated trouble by making it possible to allege race discrimina- 
tion in the seat he was given. He is strictly within his legal rights in 
this matter, and the theater manager is legally wrong. Nevertheless the 
sergeant is guilty of the GREATER wrong in doing ANYTHING, NO 
MATTER HOW LEGALLY CORRECT, that will provoke race animosity. 

"3. The Division Commander repeats that the siiccess of the Division 
with all that success implies, is dependent upon the good will of the 
public. That public is nine-tenths white. White men made the Division, 
and they can break it just as easily if it becomes a trouble maker. 

"4. All concerned are again enjoined to place the general interest 
of the Division above personal pride and gratification. Avoid every 
situation that can give rise to racial ill-will. Attend quietly and faith- 
fully to your duties, and don't go where your presence is not desired. 

"5. This will be read to all organizations of the 92d Division. 

"By command of Major-General Ballou: 

(Signed) "Allen J. Greer, 
"Lieutenant Colonel, General Staff, 

"Chief of Staff." 

Commenting in an editorial of the issue of April 13, 1918, 
upon the order as issued by General Ballou, The Advocate, a 
colored newspaper of Cleveland, Ohio, printed the following: 

GENERAL BALLOU 's ORDER. 

Major General Ballou has just issued an order to the Colored men of 
his division which is, to say the least, "extry." 

In part, the order calls for the exercise of care on the part of the 
commissioned and non-commissioned officers and men of the division in 
shunning places where they have reason to believe that their presence will 
be resented. It is an apparent appeal for lessening the "racial issue" 
controversies. 

The order might possibly be considered "perfectly harmless" and of 
the "vaudeville type" of monologues if it were not for the paragraph, 
"White men made possible the division, and white men can break it up." 

We expected better than this of Major General Ballou in this day of 



TREATMENT OP NEGRO SOLDIERS IN CAMP 99 

bitter warfare when the President is calling upon all America^ — white 
and black, we presume — to rally to the Flag and Kelp to crush "the foe 
of humanity. ' ' 

We can only urge our race to forgive General Ballou, "he knows not 
what he says." 

WE ARE NOT IN FAVOB OF THE MEN OF ANY DIVISION 
SEEKING TO STIR UP ''RACIAL STRIFE." We feci that NOW IS 
NOT THE TIME for injecting any such issue into the already over- 
crowded portfolio of Uncle Sam. 

Let us help "lick the Kaiser" FIRST and then thrash out our local 
difficulties. 

We do not want to be classed in the President's list of "creatures of 
passion, disloyalty and anarchy," therefore let us say "shoo fly" to 
General Ballou 's "undiplomatic paragraph." 

Now, all together — let's get the Kaiser! 

Many similar expressions of resentment appeared in the 
Negro press. 

A news report, sent out shortly after the issuance of the Ballou 
Bulletin No. 35, preliminary to the publication of a letter sent by 
General Ballou to me, in response to my request for a statement 
that might give the purpose that prompted the Commander of the 
92d Division to issue the bulletin, said: 

"It transpires that while Major General C. C. Ballou, of the 92d 
Division, was addressing the men under him through Bulletin No. 35, 
he was at the same time pressing the prosecution of the theatrical manager 
who had discriminated against a sergeant of the Division. 

"The prosecution of the manager of the Wareham Theatre for dis- 
crimination on account of color, instigated at General Ballou 's request, 
was, after being twice continued, tried in Police Court at Manhattan, 
Kansas, a few days ago, and resulted in the conviction of the defendant 
and the imposition of $10 and costs. It is generally assumed that the 
conviction of the theatrical manager will serve to prevent a repetition 
of the offense, and will deter other theater owners and managers from 
making discrimination on account of color. General Ballou followed the 
same course here as he did at the Officers Training School at Des Moines, 
Iowa, last summer, namely: while admonishing his men to refrain from 
precipitating racial disturbances, to prosecute those who should discrimi- 
nate against his men." 

General Ballou 's letter to the author said: 



100 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTOKY 

Headquarters 92d Division, 
Camp Fiinston, Kansas, April 22, 1918. 
My Dear Mr. Scott: 

I have your request that I make a brief statement relative to Bulletin 
No. 35, these Headquarters. There seems to be no good reason why I 
should not do so. 

Here are the preliminary facts: 

A soldier of this Division got into trouble with a theater manager at 
Manhattan and reported it to me. I at once ordered an investigation, 
placed the facts before the Division Judge Advocate and was informed by 
him that the theater manager had violated the law. I then put the case 
in the hands of the United States Attorney and requested the prosecution 
of the theater manager. The case was set for April 22d. I then issued 
Bulletin No. 35, which, in brief, is counsel to my soldiers to avoid race 
troubles. This Bulletin was given out to the colored press of the country, 
accompanied by an entirely misleading letter that not only completely 
suppressed all mention of any prosecution of the theater manager, but 
directly and falsely conveyed the impression to editors and readers that 
I had not done so. The most prejudiced person will, I think, at once see 
that this was a malicious attempt to stir up race feeling by misrepre- 
sentation. 

GOOD ORDER AND MILITARY DISCIPLINE FOUNDATION STONES. 

The character of Bulletin No. 35 was that of advice, as already stated. 
This advice was ordered published to the Division. It had nothing to do 
with any policy of segregation, or with any policy outside of the military 
establishments. Its purpose was to prevent race friction, with the attendant 
prejudice to good order and military discipline. Good order and military 
discipline are the foundation stones of the military service. They are 
indispensable. Nothing connected with the service of the colored troops 
has ever been so threatening to good order and discipline as race troubles 
have been, and it is well-known that our enemies have sought to profit by 
this fact ever since there was a prospect of war. No stone has been left 
unturned. There have always been foes of our country ready to aggravate 
the grievances of the colored people on the one hand and to stir up the 
whites on the other. It was no mere coincidence that the East St. Louis 
atrocities occurred in a city filled largely with German sympathizers. 

There is little doubt that the same influence egged on both whites 
and blacks at Houston. Most troubles have small beginnings. At Houston 
they grew from the fact of colored soldiers entering cars reserved for 
whites, and other similar matters. Great wrongs were eventually committed 
on both sides, culminating in the killing of a score or more of white people 



TREATMENT OF NEGRO SOLDIERS IN CAMP 101 

and the hanging of thirteen Negroes. In the midst of all the feeling and 
excitement caused by the East St. Louis and Houston troubles, the colored 
officers' training camp at Fort Des Moines won golden approbation all 
over the United States, made thousands of friends for the colored race 
and achieved a glorious success. It did all of this by following precisely 
the advice that was repeated to the 92d Division in Bulletin No. 35. 
"by their fruits ye shall know them." 

Our enemies do not Avish the United States to have its military power 
increased by colored soldiers, and they stand ready to add fuel to every 
race discord in order to embarrass our country as much as possible in this 
war. Is it any wondei' then, in view of what the enemy has accomplished 
in the past and is seeking to accomplish again, that the Commander of 
the colored Division seeks to nip troubles in the bud, and while prosecuting 
white men for their offences against his soldiers, urges the soldiers to do 
their part to keep the peace and promote harmony. 

I have shown that my position and action were deliberately and 
maliciously misrepresented to the colored people by the suppression of the 
news of my prompt prosecution of the theater manager, and by falsely 
conveying the impression that I had taken no such action. The entire 
letter that accompanied Bulletin No. 35 to the press of the colored people 
was a misrepresentation of my attitude and of the facts in the case, and 
no fair-minded person, when the facts are known, as stated above, can fail 
to see the work of an enemy — an enemy of our country and an even 
greater enemy to the colored race. Is the colored race going to "fall" 
for such schemes? I think not. I think they will contrast the work of 
the trouble-maker with the solid achievements of the colored officers' training 
camp at Fort Des Moines and of the 92nd Devision, and consider thought- 
fully the words — "By their fruits ye shall know them." 

Sincerely, 

C. C. Ballou, 
Major-General, Commanding 92d Division. 

Baker Against Discrimination 

Early in the summer of 1918, a flood of complaints reached 
the War Department from many of the camps, the burden of which 
Avas that the Negro soldiers were being grossly mistreated by their 
white officers, ofttimes physically assaulted, called by names that 
were highly insulting — such as ''nigger," ''coon," "darkey," and 
worse, and that the colored men were forced to work under the 
most unhealthy and laborious conditions, with a certain penalty 



102 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

of long periods of imprisonment in guard-houses and stockade and 
other cruel and unusual punishments if they dared to resent any 
indignity or failed to perform ''impossible" tasks. In many 
cases, it was alleged, opportunity for advancement was refused to 
colored men of ability, and all the assignments worth while were 
given to white men, some of whom had doubtful qualifications. 

Besides the complaints growing out of unfair treatment of 
colored men in the camps numerous instances of unequal standards 
and straightout discrimination in the operation of the selective 
draft law were reported as being practiced by the draft officials 
in several States, particularly in the South. The claim was made, 
and almost invariably substantiated by reliable testimony, that 
colored men, palpably unfit for military service, and others who 
were entitled to exemption under the law, were ''railroaded" into 
the army while other men with no legitimate excuse for exemption 
were allowed to escape the requirements of the draft system. The 
situation reached such a stage, by reason of the growing disregard 
for fair play and the honest interpretation of the law, that Secre- 
tary Baker felt called upon to check the infractions by Exemption 
Boards and the unfair treatment of Negro soldiers in the camps 
by issuing a clean-cut statement to the effect that "the War 
Department will brook no discrimination, based upon race or 
color," and that all instances of unfairness in the Army on this 
score would meet with speedy correction, with adequate punish- 
ment for all violators of the military regulations bearing on the 
rights and privileges of soldiers. 

As indicating the general attitude of some Army officers in 
carrying out the instructions of the War Department, there may be 
mentioned the particular attitude of certain officers in charge of 
units of the so-called Labor Battalions. The pressure from colored 
people throughout the country and from other sources as well 
became so strong that the War Department found it necessary to 
issue a certain memorandum changing the former decision (which 
called for white sergeants) to a decision which required that the 
non-commissioned officers in the Reserve Labor Battalions should 
be "all white or all colored" instead of "white." The effect of 
this immediately was to eliminate in many camps the colored men 
who werie serving as nbn-cdmmissioned officers and to substitute 



TREATMENT OF NEGRO SOLDIERS IN CAMP 103 

white men, no matter how unfitted such white non-commissioned 
officers were for the duties required of them. No element con- 
tributed to more unrest among the colored men who were drafted 
than this organization of Reserve Labor Battalions. 

It was a situation of this character which inspired the uncom- 
promising memorandum of the Secretary of War to the Special 
Assistant under date of November 30, 1917, of which this para- 
graph stands as the ** keynote": 

''As you know, it has been my policy to discourage discrimina- 
tion against any persons by reason of their race. This policy has 
been adopted not merely as an act of justice to all races that go to 
make up the American people, but also to safeguard the very 
institutions which we are now, at the greatest sacrifice, engaged in 
defending, and which any racial disorders must endanger." 

It will be noted that the same fundamental principle of simple 
justice to all defenders of the flag was reiterated in the interview 
made public July 1, 1918, when it seemed that the earlier procla- 
mation failed to prove as effective as the Secretary of War had 
hoped it would be in wiping out color proscription in the army. 
In consequence of the firm stand of Secretary Baker against dis- 
crimination against colored men on the part of draft boards, sev- 
eral offending members of these boards were separated from their 
positions, and in one notable instance, in Fulton County (Atlanta), 
Georgia, an entire Exemption Board was summarily removed, 
upon proof of improper manipulation of the Selective Draft Law 
in its application to colored registrants. 

In keeping with the insistence upon a ''square deal" for all, 
there came a marked improvement in the morale of the camps 
where much trouble had been made for colored soldiers through the 
petty meanness practiced by the so-called "Military Police." Re- 
ports had come into the War Department in immense volume to 
the effect that there was increasing friction between colored soldiers 
and the Military Police, in charge of order and general discipline 
in the camps. Colored soldiers complained that they were kept 
more closely confined to the camps than were white soldiers; that 
they had the greatest difficulty in obtaining passes to go to town 
or to visit relatives, and that they were punished more severely 
than were white soldiers for trivial offenses. The "bad blobd" 



104 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTOEY 

between the ''M, P." and the colored soldiers frequently led to free 
fights, near ''race riots," and the "rushing" of the guards in an 
attempt to leave the camp, regardless of the possession of passes. 
Wherever the blame may be placed for these outbreaks, a system- 
atic effort was made to remedy the evils complained of, and a 
memorandum from the Morale Branch of the War Department, 
commenting upon the matter, carried the observation that: ''The 
action that has been taken at these camps, as reported to this office, 
indicates that a genuine effort has been made to correct any 
abuses that may have existed.'* 

A further evidence of the potency of the rigid policy of the 
War Department to stamp out as far as was possible the evil of 
race prejudice on the part of officers in their relation to colored 
soldiers, is found in the case of Captain Eugene C. Rowan, of the 
162d Depot Brigade, with headquarters at Camp Pike, Little Rock, 
Arkansas. Upon positive proof, adduced by evidence given before 
a court-martial, Captain Rowan was found guilty of wilful dis- 
obedience of the orders of a superior officer and was ordered by 
the War Department to be dismissed from the service. The case 
attracted more than ordinary attention because of the fact that it 
was the first instance wherein the color question had figured in an 
action against a white officer of the Army, in a National Army 
court of inquiry. Captain Rowan was charged with having refused 
to obey an order issued by the Brigade Commander, Colonel Fred- 
erick B. Shaw, calling for a troop formation, because, it was as- 
serted, both colored and white soldiers were included in the forma- 
tion. The defense attempted to justify Captain Rowan in his 
disobedience of explicit military orders on the ground that he was 
a native of Georgia, had long resided in Mississippi, and that in 
keeping with his own personal feelings and a definite promise made 
to his men, he did not desire to give any order that would compel 
white men to "lower their self-respect." The dismissal of Captain 
Rowan followed his conviction by the court-martial, and the judg- 
ment of the Army tribunal was promptly sustained by the War 
Department at Washington. 

A number of other cases are on record where white officers 
were separated from the service for discrimination against colored 
soldiers and for unwarranted acts of cruelty in dealing with them. 



CHAPTER IX 

EFFORTS TO IMPROVE CONDITIONS 

Secretary Baker and the Trying Situation at Camp Lee, Virginia — 
Reports on Investigations at Numerous Camps — Improved Con- 
ditions Brought About Gradually — Help for Colored Draftees — 
The Case of Lieutenant Tribbett and Similar Cases of Race 
Prejudice. 



From 


Secretary of 


War- 


—Menioran 


dum for Mr. 


Scott. 




Should 


you 


not go p 


ersonally 


to 






Camp Lee 


and 


investigate 


? Then 


I 






can go and 


finish 


the job. 


Baker. 







The attitude of Secretary Baker toward a trying situation at 
Camp Lee, Petersburg, Virginia, and his vigorous handling of the 
charges of racial discrimination that were rife at that military 
station, was significant of his consistent policy with respect to the 
colored soldiers throughout the entire war period. The above mem- 
orandum was sent to the Special Assistant by the Secretary about 
the last of November, 1917, in response to a report which the 
former had made to him touching the conditions complained of at 
Camp Lee, and which had formed the basis of the longer memoran- 
dum, making known, in language unequivocal and of extraordinary 
force, the Secretary's antagonism to all practices of discrimination 
in the Army based on race or color. 

At Camp Lee there was much dissatisfaction among the colored 
soldiers. The reports which came to hand embodied the universal 
complaint that ''the whole atmosphere in regard to the colored 
soldier at Camp Lee is one which does not inspire him to greater 
patriotism, but rather makes him question the sincerity of the great 
war principles of America." The efficiency of the War Department 
was interfered with, it was stated, because of this unwholesome 
atmosphere. The colored soldiers were compelled to work at menial 

105 



106 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

tasks, regardless of their educational equipment or aspirations for 
higher duties, and discontent reigned because it was said the white 
soldiers were given genuine, intensive military training, while Ne- 
groes were not given enough drilling to give them the simplest rudi- 
ments of real soldier life and were not permitted to fire a gun. The 
statement was made that if the Negroes were allowed to be trained 
for combatant service, as white soldiers were, thousands would be 
inspired to enter the work more whole-heartedly, and the Labor 
Battalions would also show a larger measure of efficiency by the 
inculcation of a feeling that colored men were getting a ** square 
deal." Not a few of the men asserted plainly that it was useless for 
colored men to try to improve themselves at Camp Lee, as white 
officers openly admitted to them that sergeants and an occasional 
sergeant-major was as high as the Negro might hope to reach, no 
matter what might be his intellectual attainments or executive 
ability. 

Mr. C. H. Williams, of the Hampton Institute, Virginia, a young 
colored man of superior training, was designated by the Committee 
on Welfare of Negro Troops of the War Time Commission of the 
Federal Council of Churches to visit all the cities where military 
camps were located, to make a sui'vey of conditions as they affect 
colored troops. Under an arrangement he filed mth the Special 
Assistant a copy of each of his reports, so that they might be fol- 
lowed up from time to time inside of the War Department so as 
to change conditions where necessary. Mr. Williams sought to 
get the exact facts as to the feeling of the colored soldiers as well 
as of the colored population in the camp cities, and as he went from 
one part of the country to the other he also got a line on Negro 
public opinion generally. Practically all the camps and canton- 
ments where colored troops were located were visited by him as 
well as by the Special Assistant. 

Mr. Williams submitted a survey of conditions as they existed. 
His survey included inquiry into the social and religious conditions 
and the state of mind of the colored troops generally and made 
recommendations as to the steps that should be taken to bring 
about a correction of the ills complained of. At some points he 
found the situation fair, in others not good, and in many it was 
inexcusably bad. All of this had to do in the most direct fashion 



EFFORTS TO IMPROVE CONDITIONS 107 

with the morale of the colored soldiers, and hence the remedy to be 
sought for the unfavorable circumstances indicated in Mr. Wil- 
liams's reports was regarded by the Special Assistant as a mission 
of the highest and most pressing importance. 

COMPLAINTS LODGED BY COLORED SOLDIERS IN CAMP 

"Discrimination as to the issuance of passes to leave the camps — that 
white soldiers were allowed to go at will, while Negroes were refused 
permission to leave. 

"Unfair treatment, of times brutality, on the part of Military Police. 

"Inadequate provision for recreation. 

"Unfair treatment, ofttimes brutality, on the part of Military Police, 
and denial of the enjoyment of privileges in the huts, where colored huts 
had not been provided. 

"White non-commissioned officers over colored units, when the colored 
men were of a higher intellectual plane than the whites who commanded 
them. 

"Lack of opportunity for educated Negroes to rise above non-com- 
missioned officers in the Reserve Labor Battalions. 

"Confinement to the guard house for long periods and compelled to 
pay heavy penalties for minor infractions of the rules of camp, or for 
disobedience of unreasonable commands. 

"Frequently, lack of proper medical attention and treatment. 

"Negro soldiers compelled to w^ork at menial tasks, and denied suffi- 
cient drill work and not allowed training in manual of arms and denied 
an opportunity to fire a gun, in many instances. 

"Insufficient number of Hostess Houses — especially in the earlier 
stages of the war. Insufficient number of chaplains in most camps, in 
earlier stages of the war. Never enough of either of these helpful agencies 
at any stage of the war. 

"Slow discharge of colored men in labor battalions after the 
armistice. 

"At more than one camp — Humphreys notably — colored men had 
practically no sanitary conveniences, bathing facilities, barracks, mess 
halls, Y. M. C. A. service, during the war period, until after white 
soldiers had left the station. 

"Use of abusive language to the colored soldiers by white officers and 
calling them by opprobrious names. 

"Working with civilians, soldiers getting $30 per month, and the 
civilian, doing identical work, gfetting from $3.50 to $5.00 per diem. 

"Too many tent camps for Negroes, while whites are given barracks. 



108 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

"Reluctance of white oflScers to recommend colored men for induction 
into the Officers' Training Camps. 

"Men with venereal diseases not segregated in the matter of washing 
mess kits and general use of camp facilities from those not so infected. 

"During winter of 1917-18, general complaint was made of insuffi- 
cient clothing, shortage in supply of overcoats, inadequate bedding, and 
tents without flooring and ofttimes situated in wet places, where ice formed 
in winter and where mud and malaria flourished at other times. A state- 
ment came from Camp Alexander, Va., that during the winter of 1917-18 
men died like sheep in their tents, it being a common occurrence to go 
around in the morning and drag' men out frozen to death. It took a long 
time for this situation to get to the authorities, but when it did get to the 
proper officials, steps were taken to correct the trouble. 

"Men pronounced unfit for overseas service, and often in cases where 
they were unfit for any kind of military duty, were kept at the camps 
and forced to work. 

"Alleged essential labor required at many stations on Sundays. 

"Made to work in rain and cursed when any dissatisfaction was 
shown.' 'Gotten even with' by commanders if report was made of con- 
ditions to higher officers or to outsiders. 

"Promise of officials to muster out first the men in tent camps not 
promptly kept. 

"Passes refused colored men, even when messages of critical illness 
of parents or near relatives had been received." 

The Camp Lee situation being of a piece with the conditions 
obtaining at most of the army stations where colored men were 
located, it may be dwelt upon at length, to illustrate the plan of 
research and operation which was adopted to ameliorate the ills 
that were brought to the attention of the Special Assistant and laid, 
before the Secretary of War, with suggestions and recommendations 
looking toward a speedy betterment. 

Letters were sent to the War Department by the men and com- 
munications of the same tenor doubtless went outside to their 
friends. Telegrams and protests were received from representatives 
of several colored protective organizations, prominent ministers, 
leading editors, college heads, and men of aifairs generally, and 
other communications sent to them were forwarded to me in Wash- 
ington, asking that vigorous action be taken to assist in the un- 
raveling of the problem confronting the men at Camp Lee. One 
very urgent letter was sent by the Governor of a State, intimating 



EFFORTS TO IMPROVE CONDITIONS 109 

that he was confident that discriminations against colored soldiers 
were practiced at Camp Lee, but declared it to be his belief that 
this was without the knowledge of the War Department. ^'I re- 
spectfully request that you make an investigation of the situation 
there at the earliest possible moment," concluded the Governor. 
These very timely requests were most cheerfully complied with. 

That an improved state of affairs was brought about at Camp 
Lee is evidenced by a report submitted to the Special Assistant 
under date of February 20, 1919, by Louis L. Watson, Jr., of 603 
L Street, Southeast, Washington, D. C, formerly Captain of In- 
fantr)^, United States Army, after an exhaustive inquiry, covering 
every phase of Army life at that point, in its relation to the treat- 
ment of the Negro and the opportunities afforded him. 

Captain Watson, at the outset of his communication, refers to 
*'the evolution of a somewhat equitable military regime, as far as 
the races are concerned," which has a decidedly hopeful ring, and 
which hope is given quite a considerable realization before his final 
paragraph is reached. Noting his observations as ^'a, race man 
on the scene, seeking to correct the most flagrant violations of 
military law," and his purpose to **get things done," rather than to 
pile up dry statistics, Captain Watson concluded his introduction 
by saying: ''The following recapitulation, however, is quite true 
in the large, and inclusive of camp improvements worked out in the 
last five m,onths. I hope you may find it of value. ' ' 

Captain Watson's "Recapitulation** 

Said Captain Watson, in recapitulating the results that had 
been secured at Camp Lee in the five months of intensive inquiry 
and practical reformatory effort: 

"Until about the middle of July, 1918, there had been several colored 
officers at Camp Lee, but none had remained for more than twenty-four 
hours. Then came Lieut. Myron McAdoo, commissioned second lieutenant 
from the ranks of the 9th Ohio. He was assigned to the 13th Battalion 
Replacements Training Center to serve with white officers until the 15th 
of August, when five first lieutenants and three second lieutenants, colored, 
were assigned to the outfit — 1st Lieuts. Allan Turner, Frank M. Goodner, 
Chas E. Roberts, G. Cleveland Morrow and Louis L. Watson, Jr., and 
2nd Lieuts. Leonidas H. Hall, Joseph L. Johnson, Gloucester A. Price. 
Iklorcover, until this time there had been relatively few non-connnissioned 



no SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

officers, colored, in the camp and a large percentage of these were corporals 
of little ability or promise. It was characteristic of white officers to 
ignore men of ability and to make non-commissioned officers of the 
illiterate funny fellows who could furnish entertainment for them in the 
orderly room with their antics and shameful ignorance. But what was 
even worse than this came the report that in other sections of the camp, 
where there were not even non-commissioned officers of this caliber, white 
officers were inflicting bodily punishment upon ignorant enlisted men of 
color. This of course is contrary to all military law and custom. As far 
as I know, however, none of this happened after the colored officers came 
to camp. 

"The colored officers immediately launched a discreet educational 
campaign to combat this condition. Their presence alone did much to 
put a stop to this practice, but the fact that they used considerable tact 
in spreading knowledge of the law in such cases, did even more. It 
became apparent almost immediately that colored enlisted men were 
growing cognizant of their right to redress and the way to get it, and 
iU-treatment reduced itself to the personal factor entirely, which is not 
illegality so much as it is inefficiency in handling men, and not politic. 

"At the same time the colored officers set out to get more non- 
commissioned officers worthy of their rank, by a careful selection and 
promotion of the men in the four companies of the battalion. This being 
the only combatant organization of colored men in the camp it took the 
lead in efficient colored non-commissioned officers. The efficiency of these 
men was highly commendable. 

"In view of the prevalent antagonistic public sentiment against the 
rise of colored men in these parts the promotion of four colored First 
Lieutenants to Captaincy on the 10th of September, 1918, and their subse- 
quent assignment to the command of the companies of the Battalion with 
a commissioned personnel of an average of ten white first and second 
lieutenants, including the former company commanders, is nothing short 
of marvelous. / sJiall not recount in detail your work in bringing this 
condition about except to say tJiat your investigation in this matter alone 
proved to officials in the camp that colored men could get a hearing in the 
War Department, and it would not be good policy to violate the integrity 
of their office with prejudicial treatment of colored officers and enlisted men 
under their command. The Battalion had on an average of forty white 
first and second lieutenants serving in companies under colored captains. 
These officers were from almost all walks of life. Among them were a 
lawyer and school teacher from Alabama, a light-weight pugilist from 
Louisiana, an owner of orange groves from Florida, a ranchman from 



EFFORTS TO IMPROVE CONDITIONS 111 

Texas, a coalmine owner formerly from Virginia, and several stockbrokers, 
contractors, electrical engineers, merchants, graduate and undergraduate 
students of the large Eastern and Western Universities, as well as two 
"movie" actors, one principal of a Pennsylvania high school, and the son 
of a classmate of the great Gen. Joffre. Most of these officers were 
originally from the South. 

"Of the company commanders, one had done twenty-four years and 
another eleven years in the Regular Army, while the other two were from 
civil life, one a graduate from Massachusetts State College and the other 
a graduate of Howard University. The Battalion Commander was a 
criminal lawj'er with a large practice in Shreveport, Louisiana. All 
worked together and made the Battalion the most efficient and the most 
praised organization in all the Replacements Camp. There was no hesi- 
tancy on the part of the commanding officer to point to the 13th Battalion 
as an example in drill, parade, and administration. 

"When the 13th Battalion was completely demobilized and I was 
attached to the 1st Development Battalion I had the opportunity to obser^^e 
the working of organizations of colored enlisted personnel under the 
command of white officers, I found this organization, in contrast to the 
13th Battalion which I had just left, to be poorly disciplined and over- 
burdened with complaints concerning mess. Regulations were wholly 
ignored where punishments were concerned and general dissatisfaction was 
spread over the entire outfit. The morale was very low among the 
enlisted imen and the officers unconcerned. From my observations this 
condition appeared inexcusable. 

"I will conclude this resum^ with a statement of several definite and 
unbiased convictions growing out of my experience and observations: 

"(1) Colored officers show marked superiority over white officers of 
the same grade. 

"(2) A mixed organization of both white and colored officers is a 
very efficient machine and works out to perfection from a purely military 
point of view because a man's race pride will not allow him to neglect his 
duty and thus bring down criticism from officers of the other race. Each 
tries to excel. 

"(3) Wherever it is possible colored troops should have colored 
officers. There is no doubt that the interests of our troops are better 
conserved by colored officers. 

"(4) Your eagerness to correct evils in tJie camp and your effective 
work in tlii-s regard liave done more than any otlier single factor to make 
life tolerable for colored officers and enlisted men Jiere. Assuming con- 
ditions at this camp to be the average in Southern cantonments such an 



112 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

office as yours held by a man of the race is indispensable to the welfare of 
the colored soldier. Very respectfully, 

(Signed) Louis L. Watson, Jr., 

Formerly Capt. Inf. U. S. A. 

Help for Colored Draftees 

The National Medical Association, under the active leadership 
of Dr. George E. Cannon, of Jersey City; Dr. A. M. Curtis, of 
Washington, D. C. ; Dr. A. M. Brown, of Birmingham, Alabama ; Dr. 
E. T. Belsaw, of Mobile, Alabama; Dr. M. 0. Dumas, of Washing- 
ton, D. C, and Dr. W. G. Alexander, of Orange, New Jersey, ex- 
erted a helpful interest in the welfare of the medical men drawn 
in the draft. The Special Assistant took up the cases of many 
colored doctors who had been drafted and assigned to service 
battalions or as mere privates in the infantry organizations, with a 
view of having them transferred to the Medical Corps, where they 
might render a more effective service to their country along the 
line of their professional equipment. 

Another investigation, which may properly find a place in this 
chapter on the treatment of colored soldiers in the camps, is that 
which resulted in the admission of colored draftees, regardless of 
the time of their call, into the training schools for officers. The 
number permitted to enter at the outset was unusually small, and 
these were restricted to draftees who had been conscripted prior to 
January 5, 1918. The number recommended by their camp com- 
manders was not at all commensurate with the abilities of the men 
who desired to take advantage of the Government's plan of develop- 
ing officer material, and was reported to be so niggardly as to 
amount almost to an ignoring of the explicit order of the Secretary 
of War that no form of injustice or discrimination be practiced 
against any soldier because of race or color. There were also per- 
sistent rumors that an attempt was being made to promote white 
non-commissioned officers in Negro units to commissioned officers, 
which could have no other result than to fill all of the line-officer 
places with white men and make it impossible for a Negro non- 
commissioned officer, no matter how efficient or how intelligent he 
might be, to rise above that rank. Another flood of protests came 
into the War Department from colored men in the army and from 
colored people everywhere. Those in authority were apprised of 




Above — Biggest and fastest dock construction ever done was the Iniildiiig ..f the i:ass(>ns at 
Bordeaux, France, by the American Army. Photo shows work under way. Practically 
all materials had to be shipped from America and the work done by American Labor Bat- 
talions. 

Below- — Photo shows that all glory and credit of important construction work in French harbors, 
without which our Army and Navy would have been useless, does not belong to white men. 
Picture shows members of Negro Labor Battalion working on harbor improvements at 
Bordeaux. 




Above— One of the Docks at Bordeaux Where Negro Stevedore Regiments Played a Vital Part 
in the War in Unloading Supplies for Our Troops. Transportation of supplies is just as 
important a part of war as firing guns at the enemy. All the armies m the world could not 
have defeated Germany if it had not been for the Service of Supply, getting the guns, ammuni- 
tion, equipment and food to them. ,. , , t^t *. j i 

Below— To give an idea of the enormous quantities of supplies handled by Negro stevedore regi- 
ments, here is a photo of a few cook stoves that came in one shipment. 








Above — On the Docks at Brest, another P^-ench port where colored stevedore regiments were 

the chief reliance in getting supplies through to the boys at the front. 
Below — It took tens of thousands of motor trucks to get supplies from docks to the front in 
Frajice. These had to be shipped from America and here are a few in Assembling Yard 
at St. Nazaire, France, with cases and barrels of gasoline and oil in the foreground. If it 
had not been for Negro stevedore regiments, these trucks could not have been taken off 
the ships. 




GROUP OF COLORED OFFICERS 

Reading left to right— Top— 1st Lt. Chas. Lane, 367th Inf. ; Chaplain E. H. Hamilton. Camp 

Jentf/-lstl"tS^'H.\.''wfS"367th%Zf-2nd Lt. R. W. Fearing. 367th Inf.; 1st Lt. J. W. 

BotSl^cLlVJi F.' C. Shirley. Camp Mead : Capt. Chas. Garvin. Med. Corps. 367th Inf.; 

2n(i Lt. H. D. Smith. Depot Bng. Camp Mead. 





Above — The Only Negro General Court Martial Board Which Ever Existed. Photograph shows 
the General Court Martial of the 370th Infantry (8th Illinois National Guard) convened 
at Camp Logan, Houston, Texas. Officers in picture indicated by numbers following : 1 — Lieut. 
F. P. Boss, 2 — Capt. L. Jackson, 3 — Capt. James C. Hall, 4 — Capt. George M. Allen, 5 — Major 
(Now Lieut. Col.) Otis B. Duncan, President; 6 — Capt. Wm. B. Crawford. 7 — Lieut. C. N. 
Hinton, 8 — Lieut, Louis C. Washington, 9 — Capt. L. E. Johnson, Counsel for Defense; 
10 — Lieut, R. A. J. Shaw, Judge Advocate; 11 — Court Reporter McCarty. 

Selow — War Camp Community Service Club for Colored Soldiers, Louisville, Ky. 




Alio re — What real war looks like. Photograph of American Negro soldiers groing into action in the 
attack on Cantigny. American Infantry is co-operating with French tanks. 

Below — In the Trenches. The smoke Is from explosion of a hand grenade just thrown by the 
American Negro Soldier at the right. 




3 <M 



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^^£" 

t~> **^ 

fM <s S a) 
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fit* C oj 
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to « •«» 



EFFORTS TO IMPROVE CONDITIONS 113 

the unrest that existed. The Secretary of War gave orders that 
ample provision be made for the induction of properly qualified 
colored men into the Officers' Training Schools. In the end, train- 
ing camps for colored candidates for officers' commissions were 
made available at Camp Taylor for field artillery; at Camp Pike 
for infantry, and at Camp Hancock for machine gun training. 

The Case of Lieutenant Tribbett 

An instance of the workings of race prejudice, in its relation to 
colored officers, was found in the case of Lieutenant Charles A. 
Tribbett. 

Lieutenant Tribbett was from New Haven, Conn., and was 
graduated from the Officers' Training Camp at Des Moines, Iowa, 
and assigned to duty with colored troops at Camp Upton, Yap- 
hank, Long Island. While on that duty, the records of the War 
Department show that he was ordered to proceed by the usual 
means of transportation to the army post at Fort Sill, Okla., for 
instruction in aviation. Wlien the train on which he was traveling 
stopped at a station near Chickasha, Okla., it was boarded by a 
sheriff and party, who arrested Tribbett, who was in regulation 
military uniform, for riding in a car with white people. In spite 
of his protest that he was an officer of the United States Army, 
traveling under orders, on Government business, he was forcibly 
removed from the car and imprisoned in the county jail, and sub- 
sequently fined. Following an appeal to the War Department, 
Tribbett was released and permitted to resume his journey to Fort 
Sill, where he resumed his military duties. 

The matter was brought to the attention of the War Depart- 
ment by Mr. George W. Crawford, of New Haven, Conn., and Mr. 
Robert L. Fortune, of Chickasha, Okla., who protested against the 
mistreatment to which Lieutenant Tribbett had been subjected. 
These well-posted attorneys set up the contention that as an inter- 
state passenger, traveling under orders on Government business, 
he was not subject to the jurisdiction of the State authorities, and 
gave notice that they would exhaust every resource to gain adequate 
redress for their client. 

The case was cited for investigation by the Department of 
Justice, and is still pending. Here was a flagrant instance of 



114 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

injustice to an officer of the United States Army, in the full uniform 
of the military service, on Government business and traveling on a 
road under Government supervision. From every viewpoint it was 
a case for Federal intervention. All the available evidence seemed 
to indicate that the arrest of Lieutenant Tribbett was an inexcus- 
able usurpation of authority on the part of the civil officials of the 
State of Oklahoma, and for this reason the Special Assistant to the 
Secretary of War felt warranted in urging that the whole matter 
go to the Department of Justice for adjudication by the Federal 
Government. General Ansell, Acting Judge Advocate General, who 
has conducted a campaign against the army system of court-martial 
as being ''unfair," did not move to have the case of Lieutenant 
Tribbett pressed on its merits, and therefore nothing officially has 
been done. 

Treatment of Colored Soldiers Overseas 
An important matter, in conne«tion with the treatment of 
colored soldiers in the camps, which ought not to pass without 
mention, was the suggestion made by the Special Assistant to Mr. 
George Creel, Director of the Committee on Public Information, 
looking to an investigation of conditions among colored soldiers in 
France. The morale of the colored people in America was notice- 
ably lowered by ugly rumors that came by devious and winding- 
ways from abroad, and the Special Assistant thought it worth while 
to have a commission named, made up of representative men, in 
whom the masses had implicit confidence, to give this situation a 
searching investigation and make a full report thereon, to set at 
rest the uneasiness and anxiety that was alarmingly prevalent 
toward the end of the summer of 1918. The mails and cables were 
congested, and for weeks and weeks not a word could be had by 
relatives at home from their loved ones battling for freedom and 
democracy across the seas. The following letter addressed to Mr. 
Creel more fully explains the motive which prompted the Special 
Assistant to offer the suggestion that a special inquiry be made 
and the remedy be applied: 

Washington, D. C, August 10, 1918. 
Dear Mr. Creel: 

Recently in a conference with the head of the Military Intelligence 
Bureau, the matter was discussed of having two or three rQpresentativo 



EFFORTS TO IMPROVE CONDITIONS 115 

colored men go to France for the purpose of making an investigation of 
the facts with respect to several matters indicated herein. 

1. A military man who is qualified to make a free and full investi- 
gation of the general treatment being accorded colored troops on the 
French and other fronts. There has been, and still continues, considerable 
propaganda and rumor to the effect that colored soldiers are being mis- 
treated and discriminated against. Letters have come to the Office of the 
Secretary of War and to me, the same being forwarded by United States 
Senators in some instances, etc., to the War Department conveying these 
complaints. The information which would be secured first-hand by the 
military man suggested would be (under such direction as you miglit 
approve) conveyed to the Negro people of the United States through the 
Negro newspapers, public meetings, public speakers, the Committee of One 
Hundred of the Public Speaking Division, etc. 

(2) Two other representatives, not necessarily military men, but of 
sound judgment, capable of studying the facts and cooperating with the 
military representative, above referred to, in making a full report of exist- 
ing conditions abroad with respect to colored men at the front as well as those 
behind the lines (referring to service battalions, stevedore regiments, etc.). 

The joint testimony of these men would satisfactorily establish the 
facts and enable us to do a good piece of work in disposing of these 
damaging rumors which are being continually circulated. 

In this connection, I wish to state that, at a meeting held in New 
York City, Monday, August 5th, attended by officials of the Federated 
Council of Churches, by a representative of the Surgeon General's Office, 
a representative of the Military Intelligence Bureau, Mr. George Foster 
Peabody (the well-known New York philanthropist) and others, including 
the undersigned — the same suggestion was made that a commission of 
colored men in whom they have confidence be sent abroad for the purpose 
of studying the situation above indicated, and the matter was broached 
by Mr. Henry A. Atkinson, of the National Committee on Churches and 
Moral Aims of the War, of New York City, who expressed the opinion 
that it would be highly desirable for the Government to take the initiative 
in this matter. 

There is more depressed morale among the colored people than is 
generally supposed, due to stories of unfair treatment of colored men in 
various camps in America as well as abroad. Under the circumstances, 
I am quite seriously of the opinion that such a commission as herein 
suggested would accomplish very great good. 

An interview with you, at your convenience, would bo very much 



116 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

appreciated. Will you kindly let me hear from you directly or through 
Mr. Byoir, Associate Chairman. Sincerely yours, 

(Signed) Emmett J. Scott, 

Office of the Secretary of War. 

The proposal outlined in the above letter was given serious 
consideration by Mr. Creel, by the Morale Branch of the War 
Department, and by a number of officials of the War Department, 
who readily recog-nized the gravity of the situation which confronted 
them, with reference to the attitude of the Negro mind of the 
nation on this matter of the treatment of colored soldiers over- 
seas. There is strong ground for the belief that some steps of 
the nature suggested would have been taken by the authorities in 
charge of war operations had not the conflict come to an abrupt 
end in November, 1918, many months earlier than even the initiated 
dared to hope for. 

It is not without the range of probability that the movement, 
already set in motion by the Conference of Negro Editors and 
I^eaders in the preceding summer, to send to France a competent 
representative of the Negro press, to report accurately and fully 
the activities and conditions of the colored troops, received a 
positive impetus by the letter to Mr. Creel. Action to relieve the 
tension referred to, was apparently ** speeded up." Y/ithin a 
month after this suggestion that a commission be appointed to 
inquire into what the colored troops were actually doing on the 
battlefields across the water, Mr. Ralph W. Tyler, an experienced 
newspaper man of the race, was on his way to France as the ac- 
credited representative of the Committee on Public Information, 
commissioned as a war correspondent on the staff of General 
Pershing, and directed to chronicle the labors and achievements of 
the colored soldiers. Later Dr. Robert Russa Moton, Principal 
of Tuskegee Institute, as told elsewhere, was delegated by the 
President of the United States and the Secretary of War to go 
to France on a special mission, which had in mind the promotion 
of the welfare of the colored troops, and the maintenance of the 
morale of the Negro people in this country, by taking them fully 
into the confidence of the Government on all matters relating to 
their sons who had gone abroad to risk their lives in defense of 
the Stars and Stripes. 



CHAPTER X 

THE NEGRO SOLDIERS OF FRANCE AND ENGLAND 

French Colored Colonials the First Black Soldiers to Take Part in 
the War — The Story of These Senegalese Fighters — Their 
Im/portcint Part front the Beginning of the War — The Fight for 
the African Colonies — German Employment of Negro Troops in 
the Early Part of the War. 

From the very beginning of the European war, in 1914, soldiers 
of the Negro race had a great and growing share in the fighting. 
For nearly three years before America's entry into the conflict these 
colored ' ' Colonials ' ' from the French and British Colonies in Africa 
and Asia, had been taking part in the warfare on European soil, 
while in the fierce but little heard of campaign that resulted in the 
crushing of German authority in East Africa, it was the Negro 
troops who bore the chief burden and brunt of tlie fighting. 

At my request. Colonel Edouard Requin of the French Military 
Com.mission to the United States, has prepared the following state- 
ment of the participation of French Negro troops in the Great War : 

''France has had colored troops ever since it has had colonies. 
These troops have participated in all our expeditions overseas; 
they have been the best instrument of our colonial expansion. 
Algerian troops (Arabs and Kabyles) fought in France in 1870-71 
against Germany. 

''But it v/as for the first time, in 1914, that black troops (Sene- 
galese and Soudanese) took part in the European war against an 
enemy as redoubtable as Germany. If it is asked what have been 
the results of this experience there is only one answer: they have 
been excellent. 

"The black troops of Africa are grouped either by battalions 
or by regiments with our colonial French troops. The reason is that 
the colonial officers understand them thoroughly, and that the men 
themselves, in fighting together in the colonies, have acquired a 
nutual confidence in each other. 

117 



118 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Recruited among the warrior tribes of Senegales and the Sou- 
dan these troops have great combatant qualities. They are partic- 
ularly apt for attack and counter-attack, but they are primitive men 
without civilization — men who cannot be compared from this point 
of vietu with colored Americans. The black French soldiers are 
excellent grenadiers, but they are less prepared in the use of the 
machine gun and the automatic rifle, which demand a certain mechan- 
ical aptitude. They receive the same instructions as the French sol- 
diers; these instructions are given to them by white officers and 
non-commissioned officers who understand them well, and who for 
this reason ought to be changed as Httle as possible. 

' ' The characteristic of the black soldier is an entire devotion to 
these officers who have merited it and whom they will never abandon. 
In other words, the valor of the colored unit depends essentially on 
grouxjing and leadership. 

'^ Colored troops won distinction for themselves at Dixmude in 
1914; at Verdun; on the Somme in 1917; on the Aisne, and more 
recently still in the counter-attack which forced back the Germans 
north of Compiegne. 

Salute Their Flag and Die 

''These troops are not only devoted to their officers, they are 
equally devoted to France, whom they serve most loyally, and to the 
flag which represents France. The following example may be cited 
as an illustration : One day in 1916, on the Mediterranean, a trans- 
port carrying a battalion of Senegalese was torpedoed by a Boche 
submarine. It was impossible to save everybody. The last who 
remained on board lined the deck, saluted the flag, and went to tire 
bottom with a discipline and a self-abnegation which must remain 
an example to all the world. 

''It is because these soldiers are just as brave and just as 
devoted as white soldiers that they receive exactly the same treat- 
ment, every man being equal before the death which all soldiers face. 
In the French Army white and black wounded soldiers are cared 
for in the same hospital by the same personnel, so that just as we 
have delivered these black men from African barbarism so we have 
given them civilization and justice ; it is their duty in turn to defend 
among us that justice and that civilization against Prussian bar- 
barism. 



NEGRO SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 119 

"I recall a design in the Parisian magazine 'L' Illustration' 
which represents a Senegalese guarding some German prisoners. 
This black soldier said with a smile to a visitor who approached to 
see the Boche: 'I suppose you have come to see the savages, is it 
not so?' There was in this irony which the artist placed in the 
black man's mouth an infinitude of truth. 

** There is one difficulty which presents itself in connection with 
colored French troops — a difficulty which results from the climate. 
The blacks of Sengal are accustomed to a very hot climate auil stand 
our winters very badly, so the French Command, anxious to con- 
serve their health, sends them during the winter to the camps in 
the south of France, or to Algeria. This inconvenience, however, ia 
only relative ; for the black soldiers perfect their instructions in the 
southern camp and in spring once more take their place in combat 
beside the white soldiers. 

''To sum up, it may be said that, contrary to the opinion so 
often stated in times of peace by the adversaries of the colonial 
French expansion necessary to every modern state, the French 
colonies, far from enfeebling the military effort of the metropolis 
in face of the common enemy, have on the contrary augmented that 
power. Not a single territory which we occupied in Africa or in 
Asia has been abandoned. No serious revolt has been produced out- 
side of a few local agitations provoked by German agents. All 
those colonies have given us volunteers — Arab, Kabyles, Moroccans, 
Tunisians, by hundreds of thousands, Senegalese, Madagascans, 
Somalis, and even Indo-Chinese, have come to fight on French soil 
in order to defend the liberty of which they have learned under our 
aegis to appreciate all the benefits. 

"The fact that certain countries like Morocco, not yet pacified, 
furnish us with soldiers taken from the faithful tribes — and tribes 
that we ourselves fought only yesterday — is one of the most extraor- 
dinary illustrations that could be cited. 

"All this honors those men who are in charge of the organiza- 
tion of these colonies and the methods which they apply there. It 
shows equally what prodigious faculty of assimilation the French 
possess. If one considers that in North Africa the Mohammedan 
group has been essentially refractory to all foreign intervention, the 
voluntary participation of colored men in the defense of French 



120 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

soil consecrates definitely the motivating principles of our colonial 
expansion. 

'^It is wholly apart from every question of national interest, 
and solely from the point of view of humanity and morals that the 
role played by France outside of France itself received its noblest 
justification. ' ' 

The Negro Forces of Britain 

Less has been heard of the part played in the war by British 
Colonials of the Negro race. Before going into further detail about 
the French Colonials, let me quote here an article from the London 
Spectator, one of the most influential British journals, which gives 
an excellent summary of the way in which the Negro served under 
*'the meteor flag of England." 

*'Sir Auckland Geddes said the other day that, for every man 
in the Army who was actively engaged in fighting at a given moment, 
twenty-four men were hard at work in connection mth the war. 
The statement illustrated the complexity of modern warfare and 
the importance of the unarmed laborer as an assistant to the fight- 
ing man. In the present war this is generally understood, but it 
was not always so. AVhen we invaded Crimea we had no labor corps. 
The troops on the plateau above Balaclava through the winter of 
1854-55 starved mthin a few miles of abundant supplies because 
there was no proper means of transport and no road along which 
vehicles could move rapidly. The General declared that he could not 
spare soldiers from the trenches for roadmaking; the trenches were 
indeed very thinly held. No one at the War Office had foreseen the 
necessity of enlisting large gangs of laborers to keep the troops prop- 
erly fed and equipped, and it was not till after months of hardship 
that a corps of navvies was sent out to the Crimea. Nowadays this 
would be done as a matter of course. 

*'It is a common knowledge that there are in France many 
thousands of British workers who never hear a shot fired, but are 
nevertheless indispensable to the comfort and efficiency of the army. 
The problem of finding labor for the manifold tasks that have to be 
performed — not merely in constructing fortifications, but in making 
new roads and railways, in unloading ships, and in transporting the 
stupendous quantities of food, munitions and stores of every kind 
that a modern army requires — ^is as important and difficult as any 



NEGRO SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 121 

probieia of tlie 'var The Germans have tried to solve it by e&in- 
pelling the people of the occupie*^ territories to work for them, but 
this forced labor is probably inefficient as a rule because the poor 
slaves are ill fed and harshly treated. We have done better because 
we have called on the immense reserves of colored labor in the empire 
to supply voluntary workers, who are well fed and well paid, and 
cheerfully assist us in the struggle for liberty. 

"Sir Harry Johnston's little book on the part that the colored 
races are playing in the war is interesting and informing, especially 
from this point of view. He begins by reminding us that: 

'* 'The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland rules 
more or less directly some 44,700,000 Africans, about 1,700,000 
Aframericans in the West Indies, Honduras and Guiana, and about 
338,000 Oceanic Negroes, Melanesians and Polynesians in the Pacific 
archipelagoes. And in addition the Daughter Nation of the South 
A-frican Union governs another 4,000,000 of Bantu Negroes, Hotten- 
tots and half breeds; lastly, the Commonwealth of Australia and 
the Dominion of New Zealand are responsible for the safe keeping 
and welfare of about 400,000 Papuans, 150,000 Australoids and 
100,000 Polynesians, Melanesians and Micronesians.' 

"Our Asiatic subjects are more than six times as numerous, 
but our fifty-one million Negroes are not greatly inferior in numbers 
to the sixty-one million white people within the Empire, and their 
help, freely and loyally tendered, has been most valuable. The 
author proves his case by taking each Negro country in turn, describ- 
ing its races and showing what they have done in the war. British 
West Africa naturally comes first. Nigeria alone contains over 
sixteen million Negroes, some of whom are among the best native 
troops that we have. The French Senegalese battalions have done 
magnificent service on the Western front, and their southern neigh- 
bors under our rule have an equally fine record in the African cam- 
paigns. The Hausa of Nigeria and the Mandingoes of Gambia and 
Sierra Leone make first-rate soldiers, and have faced German troops 
and their machine-gun fire without flinching. 

"Ebrima Jalu, a Mandingo sergeant-major in the West African 
Frontier Force, received the D. C. M. in 1916 for his gallantry in a 
severe action in the Cameroons. When his white officer had been 
killed, he took command of his sector and directed the guns for sev- 



122 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

er^l t^ours until another officer could reach him, Sir^L-itfaj. Eblima 
Jalu is not the only hero of his rsoe. It is good to know that all 
these West African troops, perhaps thirty thousand in number, are 
volunteers, and that they enlist with the warm approval of their 
people. We could hardly have better testimony to the popularity 
of British rule in West Africa than the anecdote which Sir Henry 
Johnston cites from Southern Nigeria early in the war: 

** 'The people of New Calabar and their hereditary enemies, 
the people of Okrika, had now sworn blood brotherhood (lest their 
intertribal quarrels should embarrass us), and had brought in 
£1^000 — each tribe contributing £500 — which they begged the local 
Political Officer to forward as a token of personal loyalty to the 
King. They wrote letters in broken English saying that they wanted 
to help in the Great War because they were grateful for having 
such good and kind rulers. This means a great deal when one real- 
izes what keen, hard-headed traders are the few headmen with 
money, and how comparatively poor (except in foodstuffs) are the 
masses of the people.* 

''Attempts were made by Turkish agents to rouse the Moham- 
medans of Nigeria against us, but not even the ruling Fula caste, 
whom we had to fight when we took over Nigeria, would pay any 
attention to these sedition-mongers. 

"Incidentally the author tells us that the Negroes of German 
East Africa are akin to those of British East Africa and Nyasa- 
land, and like them use Swahili as a lingua franca. They were well 
treated by Major von Wissmann and other early administrators, but 
in recent years their interests have been completely subordinated 
to German greed: 

" 'The general cry of the natives in German East Africa since 
victories of the Allied troops has been, "Watu wa kumina-tano 
wametoka; wasirudi." ("The people of '15' have departed; may 
they never return. ' ' ) The " 15 " refers to the lowest number of lashes 
with hippopotamus hide which were administered by the Germans for 
minor offenses. The natives would regard with terror any possi- 
bility of the return of the Germans. In one district where a small 
British column temporarily occupied the country and were welcomed 
by the natives, the latter were massacred when the Germans 
returned.' " 



NEGRO SOLDIERS OF PRANCE 123 

The loyalty and devotion of the British and French Negro 
colonials to the flags and governments of the British Empire and 
the French Republic, respectively, is in sliai*p contrast to the feel- 
ing toward the German government and the German flag among 
the Negro population of those sections of Africa which were held 
as German colonies, but which under the terms of the Treaty of 
Versailles have been taken away from that country. While other 
considerations than the rights of the Negroes themselves may 
have and doubtless did enter into the considerations that led to 
the decision of the Peace Conference to take her colonies away from 
Germany forever, this decision can nevertheless be properly re- 
garded as a fulfillment of the wish and desire of every American 
citizen of the Negro race. 

German Atrocities in Africa 

The record of German duplicity and cruelty in Southwest 
Africa as disclosed in the official reports of the British adminis- 
trator embodies many of the stories of these atrocities. Between 
1904 and 1911 the numbers of thi-ee native races were reduced from 
130,000 to 37,742. The decrease was brought about by a war of 
extermination undertaken by the Germans against tribes with whom 
they had made agreements — the ** scrap of paper" over again. 
The Kaiser undertook by the treaties ''to give his Al]-Highest pro- 
tection to the chief and his people." As soon as the Germans had 
sufficient force on the spot they tore up the treaties, goaded the 
natives into rebellion, and then massacred them. The German 
Governor Leutwein avows the crime as cynically as Bethmann- 
Hollweg admitted the crime against Belgium. He simply says: 

"The specific provisions of the agreement did not matter; the 
fact of their conclusion was sufficient. The manner of the carrying 
out of those agreements thus depended entirely on the power which 
stood behind the German makers of the agreements. So long as 
the German Government in the protectorate had no means of en- 
forcing its power the agreements were of small significance. After 
this state of atfairs had been changed the agreements were, in 
practice, dealt with uniformly without regard to their stipulated 
details. So the native tribes were all in the same way, as a whole, 
whether it was arranged or not, made subject to German laws and 



124 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

German jurisdiction and received German garrisons." That was 
how the Kaiser's ''protection" was given. Then came the slaughter. 

All the records in the report are from the archives at Wind- 
hoek, from sworn statements made by Europeans familiar with the 
country, by native chiefs, and from the writings of Leutwein, who 
was governor from 1894 to 1905, and other German authorities. 
Every injustice and atrocity dealt with is a substantial fact. 

The death of a native from a thrashing was not regarded by 
the German courts as murder. Leutwein says : ' ' The natives could 
not understand such subtle distinctions. To them murder and 
beating to death were one and the same thing." 

Government of this kind impelled the Herrero rebellion. 
Samuel Kariko, son of Under-Chief Daniel Kariko, stated on oath: 
''Our people were shot and murdered; our women w^ere ill-treated; 
and those who did this were not punished. Our chiefs consulted and 
we decided that war could not be worse than what we were under- 
going. We all knew what risks we ran, yet we decided on war, as 
the chiefs said we would be better off even if we were all dead. ' ' 

Johannes Kruger, appointed by Leutwein as chief of the 
Bushmen and Berg-Damaras of the Grootfontein area, stated on 
oath with regard to the campaign of Gen. von Trotha: "I went 
with the German troops right through the Herrero rebellion. The 
Afrikander Hottentots of my werft were with me. We refused to 
kill Herrero women and children, but the Germans spared none. 
Two of my Hottentots, Jan Wint and David Swartbooi, were 
invited by the German soldiers to join them in violating Herrero 
girls. The two Hottentots refused to do so." 

Hendrik Eraser of Keetmanshoop stated on oath: "On one 
occasion I saw about 25 prisoners placed in a small inclosure of 
thorn bushes. They were confined in a very small space, and 
the soldiers cut diy branches and piled dry logs all around them — 
men, women, and children and little girls were there. The prison- 
ers were all alive and unwounded, but half starved. Having piled 
up the branches, lamp oil w^as sprinkled on the heap and it was 
set on fire. The prisoners were burnt to a cinder. I saw this 
personally." 

The official photographs of natives hanged by Germans, are 
pitiful. Capt. L. Fourie, S. A. M. C, district surgeon at Windhoek, 



NEGRO SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 125 

states: "Executions were carried out in a very cnide and cruel 
manner. The prisoner was conducted to the nearest tree and 
placed on an ammunition, biscuit, soap, or other box or convenient 
object, and the rope, after being run around his neck and through 
a fork of the tree, was fixed to the trunk. The box was removed 
and death resulted from asphyxiation. In other instances the 
condemned prisoner was strangled by merely hoisting him off his 
feet by utilizing the fork or branch of a tree. Wlien the rope was 
not available, telegraph or telephone wire or other convenient 
material was used. Very rarely could death have resulted instan- 
taneously. ' ' 

Such had been the history of German East Africa which was 
completely captured and taken over by the British early in the 
World War. Here the Germans sought to resist the British forces, 
consisting of native and Boer regiments from the British South 
African colonies, under the command of Boer officers, by compellin/j 
Negroes to fight them against the invaders. Their resistance was 
half-hearted; even the least intelligent African native could feci 
neither loyalty nor respect for the brutal and tyrannical Germau. 
officers and Colonial officials, and the Germans were left practic- 
ally to conduct their resistance unaided. The extension of the 
British protectorate over German East Africa was hailed with joy 
by all the natives. 

If the author has digressed from his theme of the Negro Soldiers 
of France, it is because he has v>dshed to draw a picture of the 
contrast between the loyalty of the French and British Colonials 
on the one hand and the hatred and terror inspired by Germany 
wherever that nation has attempted to establish colonies and rule 
the natives. To the French, who draw no color line, there is nothing 
startling or worthy of special comment in the fact that in the 
armies of France in the Great War, two colored soldiers reached 
the rank of General, and four the rank of Colonel. And the French 
as a race are proud of the exploits of "Les Joyeux" (the happy 
ones), the Negro soldiers of the special corps called officially 
''Bataillons d'Afrique." 

It was ''Les Joyeux" who electrified the entire sector when on 
May 27, 1918, the Germans attempted to storm their defenses. Al- 
though the enemy attacked in superior numbers, the ** Joyeux," fight- 



126 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

ing desperately, with entire disregard to numbers, held their ground 
and every yard of the line of barbed-wire entanglement fronting 
the French trenches was ornamented with dead Germans. Some 
of the enemy elements which succeeded in penetrating the trenches 
were slaughtered with bayonets and grenades. Supreme abnegation 
was shown by the war-hardened *' Joyeux," who checked the power- 
ful German assaults. The line of trenches was firmly held and 
communication was kept open between the various defending 
elements. 

On the night of May 28 the First Battalion of the Chasseurs 
d'Afrique fell back in an orderly manner, having fulfilled the mis- 
sion intrusted to it and picking up the equally weary elements of 
the Third Battalion, which had struggled no less gloriously. After 
an all-night march of twenty kilometers (twelve miles) they arrived 
at their destination without abandoning any material, the machine 
gunners carrying their pieces on their backs. Several of the 
'* Joyeux" spoke of this moving night march with heroic simplicity. 

''We were counted and reconstituted," said one of them. 
''About midnight of May 29, 1918, without taking a rest, we 
again went to the front. On June 1 we launched an attack, making 
a formidable charge, which caused the boches to renounce their 
attempt to advance." 

Many Deeds of Heroism 

Many deeds of heroism were performed by these men. One of 
the battalions taking part in the action was composed of very 
youHg men and had arrived on the French battlefields as late as 
January 3, 1918, after distinguishing itself in Morocco by its ardor 
and endurance. The esprit de corps animating this battalion was 
most chivalrous. 

Four "Joyeux" in the night of May 28th, saw their company 
commander, Lieutant Marechal, fall in a boyau pierced by enemy 
bullets. Not wishing to lose the body of their chief, the valiant 
four resisted the Germans with grenades, holding them at bay. 
After they had recovered the body the same four "Joyeux" carried 
it all the way during the terrible back-breaking twenty kilometer 
retreat. On the morning of May 29, although harassed by fatigue 
and lack of sleep, they organized a short funeral service, glorifying 
the officer who had fallen at their head. On June 1 the same 



NEGBO SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 127 

battalion, supported by two companies of other battalions, after 
being almost submerged by the German waves, threw itself, the 
officers leading with drawn revolvers, into a hand-to-hand encounter 
with the Germans, who fell back in disorder, abandoning their field 
and machine guns. 

The Germans applied the common name of ''Frenchmen from 
Africa" to the soldiers of all the French regiments which in time 
of peace served in Africa, including legionnaires, zouaves, **Joy- 
eux," colonials, mitrailleurs — Arab and black sharpshooters re- 
cruited in northern Africa — Spahis and African chasseurs. These 
corps were especially feared by the enemy and formed one of the 
firmest bulwarks of the allied defense. 

The annals of the French Army in the Great War are filled 
with records of individual heroism on the part of the French 
Colonial troops. Here is the official record of Fako Doumbia of 
the Fifty-first Senegalese Battalion, serving at the observation post 
of the trench. He was three times buried by projectiles, three times 
released himself, resumed his post with the greatest calmness, and 
continued on duty until relieved by the commandant of his com- 
pany. 

Fort Douaumont, which had gained renown for its obstinate 
and prolonged defense by the French during the German rush at 
Verdun in 1916, was defended by the Huns with equal obstinacy 
when the French began their counter-attack in 1918, but was re- 
captured at last. In the course of the attack a battalion of the 
''Tirailleurs," together with one of the "poilus," was held up by 
an artillery barrage in front and machine-gun fire on the flanks. 
A veteran lieutenant of the Tirailleurs cautiously raising his head 
shouted to his men: "How now. Tirailleurs, are we going to stick 
here? Forward!" The Tirailleurs immediately bounded forward, 
carrying the "poilus" with them in their rush. They passed the 
barrage and captured the fort and raised the tricolor once more 
upon its walls. 

On March 1, 1916, a battalion was organized at St. Kaphael 
from the veterans of the previous campaign and recruits recently 
arrived from Africa. After three months' training, to give the 
necessary cohesion, the battalion was sent to the front on June 1, 
and went into the trenches on the Oise, and then on the Somme, 



128 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

taking its part in all the battles. At the end of October the battalion 
went into winter quarters near Arachon, where it was put under 
''intense" training, and on March 19, 1917, joined the armies of 
the North and Northeast on the line of the Aisne, where it was 
attached to a regiment of Colonial infantry with which it took part 
in the spring offensive. On April 16 and 17 it distinguished itself 
greatly at the farm of Noisy, the men dying at their posts rather 
than abandon the position which they had taken. In May it served 
at the Mill of Lafaux, and in June and July was in the trenches in 
the reconquered part of Alsace. During July- August it took part 
in the defense of the plateaux of Craonne and California and 
fought on the Chemin des Dames. 

These places are mentioned to show that the battalion was 
always at the seat of the hottest fighting, and wherever it was 
called upon to ser^^e, whether in attack or in defense, it attracted 
attention by its courage, devotion and self-sacrifice. The quality 
of these gallant soldiers will be shown by a few quotations from the 
''citations a Pordre" for a single day: 

"Kofi Alia, private: Cool and collected; courageously led his 
comrades on April 16, 1917, to an assault of the enemy positions. 
Although wounded, continued to throw his bombs on a hostile 
machine gun and only left his post when his strength gave out." 

"Moderi Comba, private: Very devoted and courageous; on 
April 16, 1917, dressed, under fire, the wounds of his lieutenant and 
returned to his post in the line. ' ' 

"Demba N'Daigne, private: Very courageous. On April 16, 
1917, taking the quick firing gun of one of his wounded comrades, 
stopped by his fire an attempted bombing attack by the enemy." 

"Namadon N'Daigne, sergeant: On April 1, 1917, distinguished 
himself among the bravest of those who advanced against a Ger- 
man counter-attack and formed a first line of defense behind the 
barbed wire." 

"Donga Thiam, private : On April 16, 1917, being with a group 
of bombers and all his comrades having become casualties con- 
tinued alone to cast his bombs into the enemy's trench." 

"Eli Diot, corporal: Showed remarkable courage in the attack 
on the enemy's lines on April 16, remained at his post, although 
seriously wounded and never ceased to encourage his comrades." 



NEGRO SOLDIERS OF FRANCE 



129 



It was with records like these, made by men of their own race 
though under different flags, that the Negro soldiers of America 
had to compete. That they did compete, and nobly upheld the 
tradition of valor established by these French soldiers of their own 
color, is a source of much satisfaction. 




A Study ix Black and Yellow 



CHAPTEE XI 

THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 

Full Detailed Account of the Organization and Fighting Campaigns 
of the Famous Ninety/Second, as Recorded by the Division's 
Official Historian — Complete Official Reports of Every Battle vn 
Which the Ninety-Second Took Part — Commendation by Com- 
manding Officers. 

*Pursuant to War Department Orders, the 92nd Division was 
organized November 29, 1917, from the first contingent of Negro 
draftees arriving at the various camps and cantonments throughout 
the United States during the latter part of the month of October, 
1917. The entire enlisted personnel was made up of Negroes and 
represented practically all the States in the Union. The Staff and 
Field Officers, officers of the Supply Units, Quartermaster Corps, 
Engineers' Corps, and of the Artillery Units, with few exceptions, 
were white. The remainder of the commissioned personnel, compris- 
ing about four-fifths of the whole, were colored. 

The plans of the War Department did not provide a separate 
cantonment for this division. It was therefore necessary to dis- 
tribute its various units among seven widely-separated camps. This 
distribution was effected as follows : 



Name of Camp 


Location 


92nd Division Units 


Funston 


Ft. Riley, Kansas 


Division Headquarters 
Headquarters Troop 
349th Machine-gun Battalion 
Divisional Trains 


Dodge - 


Des Moines, Iowa 


366th Regiment of Infantry 


Grant 


Rockford, 111. 


365th Regiment of Infantry 
350th Machine-gun Battalion 



*The information contained in this chapter with reference to the organization, 
operations and other data of the 92nd Division has been supplied for this worli by 
First Lieut. T. T. Thompson of the 92nd Division, who accompanied it to France and 
served during the whole period at Headquarters at Camp Funston and In France as 
acting Personnel Oflflcer. He was specially detailed as Historian of the 92nd Division. 

130 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 



131 



Sherman 


Chillicothe, Ohio 


Meade 


Annapolis Jet., Md. 


Dix 


Wrightstown, N. J. 



Upton 



Yaphank, New York 



At the time of 
were as follows : 
Charles C. Ballou 
Chaiincey Dewey 
Allen J. Greer 
*Harry L. Hodges 
Sherburne Whipple 
Robert P. Harbold 
Edward L. Glasgow 
Perry L. Boyer 
Philip S. Gage 
Alfred M. Craven 
Thomas C. Spencer 



organization the 

Major General. 
Captain F. A. 
Lt. Colonel G. S. 
Major Inf. 
Major Inf. 
Major Inf. 
Colonel Q. M. C. 
Lt. Colonel M. C. 
Major Ord. C. 
Major J. A. G. D. 
Major Inf. 



317th Engineers Regiment 
317th Engineers Train 
325th Field Signal Battalion 
368th Regiment of Infantry 
351st Field Artillery 
349th Field Artillery 
350th Field Artillery 
317th Trench Mortar Battery 
367th Regiment of Infantry 
351st Machine-gun Battalion 

Staff Officers of the Division 

Commanding Division 
Aide-de-Camp 
Chief of Staff 
Assistant Chief of Staff 
Division Adjutant 
Division Inspector 
Division Quartermaster 
Division Surgeon 
Division Ordnance Officer 
Division Judge Advocate 
Division Signal Officer 



"Never reported. 



The 183rd Infantry Brigade comprised the 365th and 366th Regi- 
ments of Infantry and the 350th Machine-gun Battalion, and was 
organized as follows : 



]\Ialvern H. Barnum 
Edmund A. Buchanan 

Vernon A. Caldwell 
John J. Ryan 
Frederick E. Sweitzer 
James E. Abbott 
Charles W. Mason 
William F. Robinson 

Ralph W. Parrott 
Adelbcrt G. Aldrich 
James E. McDonald 



Brigadier General 

Major 
365th Regiment of Infantry 

Colonel 

Lt. Colonel 

Captain 

Major 

Major 

Major 
366th Regiment of Infantry 

Colonel 

Captain 

Major 



Brigade Commander 
Brigade Adjutant 

Rbg'l Comd'r 
Regiment 

Regimental Adjutant 
Comd'g 1st B'n 
Comd'g2ndB'n 
Comd'g 3rd B'n 

Reg'l Comd'r 
Reg'l Adjutant 
Comd'g IstB'n 



132 



SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 



Ralph Leavitt 
Horace F. Sykes 

George M. Lee 
Dennis M. Matthews 



Major 
Major 
350th Machine-gun Battalion 
Major 
1st Lt. 



Comd'g2nd B'n 
Comd'gSrdB'n 

B'n Comd'r 
Actg. B'n Adjutant 



The 184th Brigade was organized as follows 



William H. Hay 
Herman S. Dilworth 



James A. Moss 
William C. Doane 
Fred W. Bugbee 
Frederic Bull 
Charles L. Mitchell 
Wilford T\^^^man 
Fitzhugh L. Minnegerodc 

368th 
William P. Jackson 
William S. Mapes 
Harry Armstrong 
Henry S. Terrell 
Max A. Elser 
William R. Pope 



Robert M. Barton 
Oscar C. Brown 



Brigadier General 
Major 
367th Regiment of Infantry 
Colonel 
Lt. Colonel 
Lt, Colonel 
Captain 
Major 
Major 
Major 
Regiment of Infantry 
Colonel 
Lt. Colonel 
Captain 
Major 
Major 
Major 

351st Machine-gun Battalion 
Major 
1st Lt. 



Brigade Commander 
Brigade Adjutant 

Reg'l Comd'r 
Regiment 
Unassigned 
Regimental Adjutant 
Comd'g 1st B'n 
Comd'g2ndB'n 
Comd'g 3rd B'n 

Reg'l Comd'r 
Regiment 

Regimental Adjutant 
Comd'g 1st B'n 
Comd'g 2nd B'n 
Comd'g 3rd B'n 

B'n Comd'r 
B 'n Adjutant 



The 167tli Field Artillery Brigade was organized as follows : 



John H. Sherburne Brigadier Gen. 

349th Field Artillery Regiment 



Dan T. Moore 
Charles S. Blakely 
Royal F. Nash 
William F. McCleave 

Fred T, Austin 
Walter E. Prosser 
William Heffner 
Allen McBridc 



Colonel 
Lt. Colonel 
Captain 
Major 

350th Field Art. Regiment 
Colonel 
Lt. Colonel 
Captain 
Major 



Brigade Commander 

Reg'l Comd'r 
Regiment 
Reg'l Adjutant 
B'n Commander 

Reg'l Comd'r 
Regiment 

Regimental Adjutant 
B'n Commander 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 



133 



William E, Cole 
Edward L. Carpenter 
Earl Briscoe 
Wade H. Carpenter 



351st Field Art. Regiment 
Colonel 
Lt. Colonel 
Major 
Major 



Reg'l Comd'r 
Regiment 
Comd'g 1st B'n 
Comd'g2ndB'n 



The 317tli Engineers' Regiment was organized as follows 



Earl I. Brown 
Henry A. Finch 
Charles Ecton 
William H. Ferguson 
Arthur E. Wenige 

PiTTMAN E. Smith 
Ether Beattie 



Colonel 
Lt. Colonel 
Captain 
Major 
Major 
317th Engineers' Train 
1st Lt. 
2nd Lt. 



Comd'g Regiment 
Regiment 
Reg'l Adjutant 
Comd'g 1st B'n 
Comd'g 2nd B'n 

Train Comd'r 
Tr. Adjutant 



The 325th Field Signal Battalion was organized as follows: 

Irving Deems Major B'n Commd'b 

Luther N. Hull Captain B'n Adjutant 

The 317th Supply Train was organized as follows : 

Otto W. Rethorst Major Tr. Comd'r 

John N. Douglass Captain Tr. Adjutant 

The 317tli Ammunition Train was organized as follows : 

Henry B. Clark 
Allan R. Williams 
Charles C. McClure 
Charles C. Hoag 
Edward F. Springer 



Colonel 


Tr. Comd'r 


Major 


Comd'g Horse Sec. 


Major 


Comd'g Motor Sec. 


Captain 


Adjutant Mot. Sec. 


Captain 


Adjutant Horse Sec. 


Major, M. C. 


Tr. Comd'r 


Captain, M. C. 


Comd'g Ambu. See 



The 317th Sanitary Train; 

David B. Downing 
Edward B. Simmons 

The 317th Trains Headquarters and Military Police : 

Isaac S. Jenks Colonel Tr. Comd'r 

Joseph C. Wilson Captain Tr. Adjutant 

The 349th Machine-gun Battalion : 

Robert S. Sterrett Major B'n Comd'r 

Arthur Hubbard Ist Lt. B'n Adjutant 



134 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

The Division Headquarters Troop: 

Edward J. Turgeon Captain Troop Comd'b 

Marion C, Rhoten 1st Lt. Troop 

Sidney D. Frissell 1st Lt. Troop 

Arthur R. Williams 2nd Lt. Troop 

The Training in France 

The organization and training of the Division extended over a 
period of five months. In May, 1918, the Division was ordered over- 
seas to join the American Expeditionary Forces in France. The 
first contingent embarked at Hoboken, N. J., on June 10, 1918, and 
reached Brest (Finisterre) on the 19th day of June, 1918. During the 
same month the Infantry Units, the Divisional Trains and the Field 
Artillery Brigade, elements of the division which had not embarked 
with the first contingents, reached France and went immediately into 
a secondary period of intensive training. 

Bourbonne-les-Bains (the baths of the Bourbons), in Haute 
Mame, was the first training area of the 92nd Division in France. 
Bourbonne is a historic little town of five or six thousand inhabitants, 
situated almost midway between the lower reaches of the Marne on 
the west and the Moselle on the east, in the northeastern part of the 
country. To the east about one hundred miles flows the Ehine, while 
to the southeast at a less distance lies the border of Switzerland. 
Sixty miles north of the town, the battle line ran angling to the south- 
east and thirty miles northwest was Chaumont, the headquarters of 
the American Expeditionary Forces. Like most of the towns of 
France, Bourbonne-les-Bains counted its age in centuries. In peace , 
times its natural hot-water baths attracted health-seekers from all 
parts of the country. Tradition relates that the hot mineral waters 
of the surrounding springs had not only been a favorite gathering 
place for the Bourbon kings in the Middle Ages, but of the Romans 
as well, many centuries before. In the old city park, at the foot of 
the hill, near where a moving-picture theater now stands, may 
be seen the ruins of ancient Roman colonnades, standing near an 
excavation in the solid rock. This excavation until recently was still 
used as a swimming pool, into which the same hot springs continue 
to flow. 

The various units of the Division, except the Artillery Brigade 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 135 

and the Ammunition Train, were quartered in the numerous villages 
extending in a semicircle to the north and east of Bourbonne, ranging 
from six to sixteen kilometers from Division headquarters, which 
was established in the city. Following the plan of quartering tke 
American army as it entered France, the soldiers were billetted in 
buildings vacated by the French people. These buildings consisted 
of public halls, hotel buildings, barns and in many instances the 
homes of families where available space could be found. 

The training period continued through eight weeks, embracing 
all phases of offensive and defensive tactics found necessary to meet 
the actual methods in use in the allied armies. In the meantime, the 
complete Artillery Brigade and the Ammunition Train reached 
France and went into training July 18 at Montmorrillon, in the 
department of Vienne, the training area for artillery units. 

Takes Over the St. Die Sector 

Leaving this training area about the 7th of August, 1918, the 
Division moved up by stages to take over its first sector. Leaving 
Bourbonne-les-Bains, the Division established temporary headquar- 
ters at Bruyeres, Vosges, remaining twelve days, during which time 
the Division was equipped for front line duty. From Bruyeres 
the Division moved up by marches to St. Die on the 21st of August, 
and took over its first sector on the 25th of August, 1918. 

From St. Die to the Rhine is not more than a day's march. From 
the towers and other elevations of the city, the dim outlines of the 
distant mountains — the foothills of the Alps — covered with impene- 
trable forests, are plainly visible. The clear and shallow waters of 
the river Meurthe flow through the heart of the city. A quaint bit of 
history connected with St. Die is that it gave the name to the con- 
tinent of America. This is explained by large placards posted in 
different parts of the city to welcome incoming American troops, by 
the announcement in French that the city of St. Die is the "Marraine" 
of America, because it was for Americus Vespucius, a St. Diean monk, 
that the continent was named. One of the leading streets terminating 
at the square knowTi as the ''Place de Jules Ferry" is called "Rue 
de President Wilson." The headquarters of the Division in this city 
of 10,000 inhabitants, was located in the historic old building for- 
merly used by the Bishop of Eastern France as office and prefecture. 



136 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

This rambling old building crowns the single eminence of the city 
and part of it is still used for church services by the native population. 
The St. Die sector formed the southeastern tip of the great battle 
line which extended from the North Sea to the borders of Switzer- 
land. Across the line opposite the sector lay Alsace. Beyond the 
Alsatian strip of country lay impenetrable mountains and forests. 
Physical barriers made extensive military movements impracticable, 
and for this reason the sector was comparatively a quiet one and 
usually assigned to inexperienced divisions coming into the front line 
for the first time. The city of St. Die, on the French side, was easily 
within range of enem.y guns, and Saales, the Alsatian city opposite 
St. Die, v/as as easily within the range of our own artillery, but 
through a tacit understanding, neither of these cities suffered from 
artillery bombardment from opposing forces, although the villages' 
and roads beyond were frequently bombarded. 

The Baptism of Fire and Gas ^^^tf'"'^ 

With the coming of American troops, the sector became more 
active. The 92nd Division in this sector relieved the 6th Infantry, 
American Expeditionary Forces, and French units of the 33rd Army 
Corps, with which the 6th Infantry had been brigaded, less the 
French artillery which supported the 92nd Division. The Artillery 
Brigade of the 92nd Division was still in training at Montmorrillou. 
In a raid on the 16th of August, nine days before the 92nd took over 
the sector, the 6th Infantry had captured the village of Frapelle and 
extended its front line trenches. As a result of this loss, the 92nd 
found the enemy on the offensive and received its baptism of fire 
and gas on August 25, 1918. Amid intermittent shelling with shrap- 
nel and gas, the front line trenches were taken over by three com- 
panies respectively from the 368th and 365th Eegiments, two com- 
panies of the 367th Infantry, and five companies of the 366th 
Infantry, with other combat units in reserve and support. 

From the 25th of August until the Division was relieved on the 
20th of September, the principal activities consisted of patrolling 
and raiding parties, with artillery and aerial bombardment of enemy 
positions. Skirmishes between raiding parties were frequent. One 
of the most intense engagements during this period was on the night 
of the 31st of August, 1918, when the enemy made an attempt in 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 137 

force to retake Frapelle. In this attack the enemy was supported by 
intense artillery bombardment, employing mustard gas and flame 
projectors, but was repulsed with heavy losses. Our casualties were 
34 wounded and gassed and four killed, including First Lieutenant 
Thomas Bullock, 367th Infantry, the first officer of the Division to 
meet death at hands of the enemy. 

On the following day, the enemy attacked our forces at Ormont, 
after hea^^ artillery barrage, but were driven back by the 366th 
Infantry. In this attack more than 12,000 shells were fired into 
our front line trenches between the hours of 12:30 and 3:00 in the 
afternoon. After this intense barrage the enemy charged our gun 
fire. In this action, the 365tli were commended for repelling the 
enemy's attack. 5 • 

Following the enemy's defeat at Hermanpere, the enemy at- 
tempted a raid at Frapelle but was repulsed by our infantry, assisted 
by artillery barrage. Among the casualties on this date, Lieutenant 
Aaron Fisher of the 366th Infantry, later awarded a Distinguished 
Service Cross, was seriously wounded. 

Negro Soldiers Eager to Attack 

No immediate offensive operations were attempted by our forces 
at this time. Our officers and soldiers pleaded for an opportunity 
to attack the enemy, to assume the offensive; especially was this 
true at Senones, where our patrolling parties entered the town and 
mingled with its occupants, and brought back valuable information, 
but it was deemed inadvisable at that time. Troops not actively 
engaged in holding positions and repelling the enemy attacks were 
extending and repairing trenches and dugouts. The entrenchment 
system was inadequate for the protection of the troops and out of 
repair from long non-use. In the meantime it developed that not- 
withstanding the incessant activities of the enemy, he was never- 
theless falling back and taking up new positions to the rear. 
Numerous patrolling parties sent out from our lines returned after 
long patrols and reported failure to come in contact with the enemy. 
In many cases enemy trenches were found abandoned. This was 
regarded as indicating that the enemy was not anxious to meet our 
troops in a general engagement. 

At Hermanpere, La Fontenelle, La Raniese, Vanifosse, Ban de 



138 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Sapt, Denipaire, Robedeau, Coichots, Ravines, Germanfaing, Moyen- 
moutier — villages occupied by the 92d in this zone of operations — the 
enemy kept up incessant bombardment, including a variety of gas 
shells. During the latter days of September aerial activity, both 
bombing and reconnaissance, increased daily. 

A Duel in the Air 

Near Raon L'Etape, on the 15th of September, our troops wit- 
nessed their first airplane duel. A German aviator, steering a com- 
bat plane of the larger Fokker type, entered our lines at an altitude 
of 8,000 feet. The enemy plane was reported by observers at 14 hrs. 
At 14 :40 hrs. a combat plane from the French aero squadron which 
was cooperating with our forces in this area, had sighted the enemy 
plane and was climbing rapidly to give battle. Taken by surprise, 
the Boche aviator circled and attempted to rise to the level of his 
antagonist, but the French lieutenant was now opening his batteries 
on the port side of the Boche plane at a superior height of 800 feet. 
The accurate aim and superior maneuvering by Lieut. Fagon enabled 
him to reach the vitals of the Boche plane before the latter could 
bring his machine into position to defend himself effectively. After 
twenty minutes of circling, swooping, diving and sparring for ad- 
vantage, the German plane with its propeller shot away, crashed 
headlong to earth, its occupant pierced many times with machine-gun 
bullets. 

During the week of September 14, 1918, one of the raiding 
parties of the 366th Infantry surprised and captured a group of five 
German soldiers, the first prisoners taken by the 92nd Division. 
Other raiding parties captured enemy rifles, machine-guns and mes- 
sage dogs. In the meantime two members of one of our own 
patrolling parties fell into the hands of the enemy. In this way the 
Germans learned for the first time that the 92nd Division, the oppos- 
ing force which faced them, was made up of American Negroes. 
"With this information, the Germans changed their tactics for the 
moment and launched into our trenches the first propaganda which 
reached us. On the morning of the 12th of September, a section of 
the 367th Infantry was bombarded with what at first was thought 
to have been gas shells. On closer inspection it was found to be 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 139 

circular printed matter. Printed in good English, a copy of this 
circular read as follows : 

"To THE Colored Soldiers op the American Army" 

"Hello, boj's, what are you doing over here? Fighting the Germans? 
Wh.y? Have they ever done you any harm? Of course some white folks 
and the lying English-American papers told you that the Germans ought to 
be wiped out for the sake of Humanity and Democracy. 

. ""What is Democracy? Personal freedom, all citizens enjoying the same 
rights socially and before the law. Do you enjoy the same rights as the 
white people do in America, the land of Freedom and Democracy, or are 
you rather not treated over there as second-class citizens? Can you go into 
a restaurant where white people dine? Can you get a seat in the theater 
where white people sit? Can you get a seat or a berth in the railroad car, 
or can you even ride, in the South, in the same street car with white people? 
And how about the laAv ? Is lynchi]ig and the most horrible crimes connected 
therewith a lawful proceeding in a democratic country? 

' ' Now, this is all different in Germany, where they do like colored people, 
where they treat them as gentlemen and as white people, and quite a number 
of colored people have fine positions in business in Berlin and other German 
cities. 

"Why, then, fight the Germans only for the benefit of the Wall street 
robbers and to protect the millions they have loaned to the British, French, 
and Italians? You have been made the tool of the egotistic and rapacious 
rich in England and in America, and there is nothing in the whole game for 
you but broken bones, horrible wounds, spoiled health, or death. No satis- 
faction whatever will you get out of this unjust war. 

"You have never seen Germany. So you are fools if you allow people 
to make you hate us. Come over and see for yourself. Let those do the 
fighting who make the profit out of this war. Don't allow them to use you 
as cannon fodder. To carry a gun in this war is not an honor, but a shame. 
Throw it away and come over into the German lines. You will find 'friends 
who will help you along." 

Be it said to the honor and credit of the many thousands of 
Negro officers and soldiers to whom this propaganda was addressed, 
the invitation had no effect other than to present an intimate view 
of German methods and to confirm in our men a loftier conception 
of duty. 

On the 20th of September, 1918, the 92nd Division was relieved 
in the St. Die sector by the 81st (the Wildcat Division). During the 



140 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

four weeks the Division held this sector, all enemy attacks were 
repulsed, a number of prisoners and quantities of material were 
captured, trenches and roads were constructed and repaired, and 
most important of all, the Division demonstrated its ability to fight 
in or out of the trenches as it had been trained in the back areas. 

Second Sector Held by the 92nd Division 

Beginning on the 21st of September, 1918, the Division left the 
St. Die sector, dropping down into the Corcieux zone for entrain- 
ment. Orders from the Commander-in-Chief of the American Expe- 
ditionary Forces directed the Division to proceed to the Department 
of the Meuse and take up position as a Corps Reserve unit. From 
Corcieux and other nearby entraining points, the various units of the 
Division, less the artillery and Ammunition Train, were entrained 
and en route to the Argonne region within twenty-four hours after 
orders were received. 

Preparations for the great drive of the Allies which had been 
scheduled to begin on the 25th of September, 1918, were almost 
complete. More than 650,000 American troops were hurrying day 
and night to take up their places in the line. The whole Hindenbnrg 
line contained no section more difficult than that assigned to the 
American Army. This great offensive operation was a part of the 
general progTam to break the German line. The objective for the 
American Army was a point opposite Sedan on the Meuse, to reach 
which it was necessary to drive the enemy entirely out of the Ar- 
gonne, a section he had held tenaciously for four years. 

The distance of more than three hundred miles was covered by 
the 92nd Division in troop trains by the afternoon of the 23rd. With 
all equipment and supplies each unit was in place by the morning of 
the 24th of September. Division headquarters was established in 
echelons at Triacourt and Beauchamp, sixteen kilometers apart. 

The Argonne is a narrow oblong strip of territory extending 
almost north and south between the Aisne and the Aire, with a ridge 
of hills through almost its entire length, skirted by the river valleys 
on either side. Several villages are located in the region, but the 
greater part is densely wooded, with gorges and ravines. In length 
it is nearly thirty miles from Grand Pre at one end to Triacourt at 
the other, and varies in width from eight to fifteen miles. The entire 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 141 

section is crossed by only two main wagon roads and one railroad. 
On the western side is St. Menehould, on the eastern side is Clermont. 
To the east a few kilometers lies battered Verdun, while westward of 
St. Menehould 90 kilometers lies naked Eheims. The line of rail- 
road running from Metz to Paris and passing through Verdun, Cler- 
mont, St. Menehould, and Eheims, bisects the Argonne forest at 
Les Islets. The entire area of the strip is less than 500 square miles 
and yet because of the rugged terrain and imj^assable forests, the 
Allies found this section the most difficult of the whole line from 
which to dislodge the enemy. Throughout the whole period of the 
war this forest remained the scene of the fiercest struggles. It was 
overrun in 1914 when the German army advanced to the Marne after 
driving its wedge between Verdun and Rheims. After four years 
of fighting in which the German army had been pushed back grad- 
ually, that portion of the Argonne between the line of railroad and 
Grand Pre still remained in the hands of the enemy. On the date 
of the beginning of the Argonne-Meuse offensive, more than 21 divi- 
sions of the American Army held this portion of the line, while the 
enemy had more than 40 divisions opposite. 

A change in the disposition of allied troops made it necessary 
for the 368th Infantry to take over the sector opposite Binarville 
on the 25th of September. At this time the 368tli Infantry was com- 
manded by Colonel Fred R. Brown with the following battalion com- 
manders: First battalion, Major John H. Merrill; second battalion, 
Major Max Elser; third battalion, Major Benjamin F. Norris. For 
this engagement, the regiment cooperated with the French forces, the 
4th French Army, commanded by General Gourard. Moving over 
from Vienne-le-Chateau it took up a position on the left of the 
American forces and on the right flank of the French. 

The sector held by the 368th Regiment formed an irregular 
triangle projecting forward beyond the general line. In front of 
this position vast stretches of enemy wire entanglement extended at 
intervals in all the intervening *' no-man's-land.'' Beyond this wire 
entanglement were numerous concealed machine-gun emplacements. 
At this point the fighting was harder than anj^hing the Division had 
experienced up to that time. At least two unsuccessful attempts were 
made to advance before the first objectives were reached. The total 
casualties exceeded 450 men killed, wounded and gassed. Among the 



142 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

casualties in this action, the following officers were killed: Lieut. 
Norwood C. Fairfax and Captain Walter Green of the 368th Infantry. 
During the five days in which the 368th held this position a total 
advance of five kilometers was made and the village of Binarville 
Avas taken. 

Infantry Activities of the Division 

The following statement indicates somewhat in detail the In- 
fantry activities of the 92nd Division : On August 23, 1918, the entire 
92nd Division except the artillery moved from the training area into 
the St. Die (Vosges) sector, to relieve the 5th Regular U. S. Army 
Division. The front line trenches of this sector were established 
60 days after the opening of the war and had not changed until the 
taking of the village of Frapelle. More than three years of attack 
and counterattack had caused both the French and Germans to 
conclude that the Vosges Mountains offered too many difficulties for 
either to advance and hold. This bit of rugged terrain had been 
used by both sides as a ^ ' rest sector. ' ' About the middle of Augaist, 
1918, the 6th Infantry of the 5th Eegular U. S. A. Division in an 
early morning surprise attack captured the village of Frapelle. 
This is said to have been the first town taken by an Am-erican unit 
independent of any assistance from the French. Frapelle controlled 
a very important highway and its loss by the Germans threatened 
a railroad which was much used to convey troops and military 
supplies into Southeast Alsace. 

Before the 6th Infantry had time to reorganize to hold the 
newly captured territory, the 366th Infantry (colored troops) was 
ordered to relieve them. The Germans were very angry at this 
loss and hurriedly moved Prussian troops in to replace Alsatian 
Guards (second class troops) and supplemented the sector artillery 
with many heavy guns. Counterattacks began immediately upon the 
arrival of the new troops and many efforts were made to retake the 
village. The casualties of the 6th Infantry were probably larger 
than the accomplishment would seem to merit. Wliile the relief of 
the 6th Infantry by the 366th was in progress a bombardment of 
Frapelle took place which lasted four hours, and not a wall in the 
entire town was left standing. The Catholic church steeple was the 
last to topple over. That this had ceased to be a "quiet sector" was 
learned by the first company of the 366th Infantry the very night 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 143 

they entered the trenches, for two men were killed and six severely 
wounded before the relief was completed. In this sector the "dough- 
boys" of the 366th were first introduced to a flame-projector attack. 
There the Germans also had air-superiority, and when the weather 
was clear, the front line trenches were bombed from above. 

In addition to their systematic daily program of artillery fire, 
one and at times two barrages were placed over the front line posi- 
tions. Aeroplanes flying above often directed the fire for more than 
thirty minutes at a time before being driven away by the French 
anti-aircraft guns. The roads traveled by the supply trains were 
bombed, shelled with shrapnel, high-explosive and gas shells every 
night. 

Enemy Defeated with the Bayonet 

After the first week in this sector the men of this (366th) regi- 
ment, not only took complete possession of "no-man's-land," but 
made nightly patrols over the first and second line trenches of the 
enemy. One bright Sunday morning after being in the trenches two 
weeks, the Germans following closely behind a most terrific bom- 
bardment, which battered down two front line dugouts, entered the 
front line trenches and after a hand-to-hand bayonet encounter were 
forced to retire in complete disorder. After this first and only time 
that the Germans actually entered the trenches, they seemed to con- 
clude that the Negro infantryman knew how to use "cold steel" and 
that he was not to be driven from his post. Snipers, machine guns 
and artillery alone were used against him after that one attack. At 
night motor trucks armed with light artillery and machine guns 
were sent forward to commanding positions on the enemy side and 
the strong points shelled. With the aid of bright rockets on moon- 
light nights during the early part of September, 1918, these same 
trucks were used, and often very effectively, against the patrols in 
"no-man's-land." 

During the 28 days in the St. Die sector the men of the 366th 
Regiment gained a confidence in themselves and their weapons, such 
as could never have come in a camp or training area. They learned 
coordination and a real love for the war game. It became difficult to 
send out small patrols, for every officer and man desired to par- 
ticipate. Company commanders in order to settle disputes as to 



144 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

priority among the volunteers for niglit patrols and raiding parties 
were compelled to promise places days in advance of orders. 

Many officers of the 366th Infantry think the regiment lost its 
best opportunity in this sector because orders were never received 
allowing them to advance. The mission of the regiment was to 
reorganize the captured territory and hold at any cost. They did 
this and more. Raiding parties succeeded in driving the German 
patrols from "no-man's-land" and out of their own front line 
trenches at night, without assistance from the French sector artillery, 
which was inactive most of the time, and being situated beyond range 
was ineffective in silencing enemy batteries when it did fire. Ten 
days before leaving the sector it was generally recognized that the 
regiment had superiority in all arms and could, it is believed by its 
officers, have gone over and captured the villages of Beaulay and 
Provenchires, thereby bettering their position, with fewer casualties 
than were sustained by remaining in the valley of the Fave. 

The March to the Argonne 

Relieved by the ''Wildcat" Division and a battalion of French 
troops the 366th Infantry, weary and badly rest-broken, moved back 
for what was rumored to be a rest. After a 20-kilometer march with 
heavy packs over the flinty roads of the Vosges Mountains to the 
railroad, they were entrained with other units of the 92nd Division 
and rushed to the village of Le Chemin, arriving there on the morn- 
ing of the 23rd of September, 1918. The 92nd Division Headquarters 
was established at St. Menehould. At seven o'clock in the evening 
of September 23rd, in a very heavy rain, a start was made for the 
Foret d 'Argonne. The march from St. Die to Granges, which was 
very hard on the men, proved disastrous to the horses and mules. 
The road from Le Chemin to Camp D'ltalien was strewn with dead 
animals and equipment which had to be abandoned for want of 
transportation. Most of the men of the 1st and 3rd Battalions of 
this regiment removed their shoes, while on the train, for the first 
time in ten days ; this condition was but a trifle worse with the officers 
and men of the 2nd Battalion, who had been in the front line trenches 
twenty days under the most terrifying artillery fire. In recognition 
of the splendid services rendered during this period eighteen Distin- 
guished Service Crosses were awarded the men of this battalion. 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 145 

Resting in the woods of Camp d'ltalien without shelter except 
from pup tents during the day of the 24th, another start was made 
that night and after marching nine kilometers, a part of which was 
over the famous Verdun highway, Camp Cabaud was reached early 
in the morning and rest once more established. The march over the 
Verdun highway that night will never be forgotten by the thousands 
of soldiers racing for a place in the great offensive of the First 
American Army. Several miles of trucks were stranded along this 
highway; congestion was never worse on any 'oad. After several 
days' rain the shell-torn roads caused some of the trucks to turn 
end for end; some were on one side, while others were completely 
upside down. Every effort on the part of the Military Police failed 
to keep trucks and troops moving. Ammunition having the right of 
way over everything, forced infantry and even ambulances to halt. 

Roads Blocked with Trucks 

Determined to keep transportation moving, trucks were ordered 
forward over the left side of the road, when the right had become 
solidly blocked. Despite the skill and ingenuity of higher com- 
manders, for both Major Generals and Brigadier Generals left their 
automobiles and vied with Colonels in spending every human energy 
in an effort to open the roads, the left side of the road became blocked 
about midnight and for seven kilometers trucks and troops were 
banked together in mud and mire. The infantry, moving forward 
by file in small detachments, finally reached the woods above Passa- 
vant-en-Argonne about 5 o'clock in the morning. The sky, though 
cloudy that night after the rain, was well lighted by the continuous 
flash from the big guns. The roar was deafening. Hearing one 
speak in ordinary tones beyond a few feet was impossible, though 
we were ten to twelve kilometers from the battery positions. It was 
not the ordinary noise of the battle front that night; every soldier 
knew that a something different was ''coming off." Single guns 
could not be heard; no, not even single batteries; it was just one 
continuous roar. So numerous were the guns and so regular the fire 
that the discharge could not be distinguished from the burst of the 
shells. 

Secret Field Order No. 13, Headquarters 92nd Division, made this 



146 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

division, less the 368th Infantry, a Corps Reserve and designated its 
station as ''the woods north of Clermont." Hardly had these woods 
(Camp Caband) been reached when, by verbal order of the Brigade 
Commander, the 1st Battalion of the 366th Infantry was ordered 
to go forward and build a road across ''no-man's-land." The ar- 
tillery of the First Army had done its work well, the infantry attack- 
ing waves of the assaulting divisions were moving forward. In 
order that the heavy guns, ammunition, and supplies might follow 
in close touch with the rapidly advancing troops, roads had to be 
built in great haste. 

Amid gas, shrapnel, and high explosive shells, with but few 
casualties, this battalion did its work. So rapid was the advance the 
first few days that the entire 183rd Brigade, which included both 
the 366th and 365th Infantry, were ordered, in conjunction with the 
317th Engineers (also of the 92nd Division), to move forward and 
engage in the work of making roads. In speaking of this work, 
General Pershing says in his report to the Secretary of War, dated 
November 20, 1918 : "We had gained our point of forcing the battle 
into the open and were prepared for the enemy's reaction, which 
was bound to come as he had good roads and ample railroad facil- 
ities for bringing up his artillery and reserves. In the chill rain of 
dark nights our engineers had to huild new roads across spongy, 
shell torn areas, repair hroJcen roads beyond no-man's -land, and 
build bridges. Our gunners, with no thought of sleep, put their 
shoulders to the wheels and drag-ropes to bring their guns through 
the mire in support of the infantry, now under the increasing fire of 
the enemy's artillery. Our attack had taken the enemy by surprise, 
but, quickly recovering himself, he began to fire counterattacks in 
strong force, supported by heavy bombardments, with large quan- 
tities of gas." 

Third Sector Held by the Division 

About the 5th of October the 92nd Division was withdrawn from 
this sector and ordered to the Marbache sector. This sector extended 
along the Moselle river from Marbache to Pont-a-Mousson, a dis- 
tance of 16 kilometers. The troops of the Division took up a position 
on a line crossing the river at right angles and resting on both sides 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 147 

of the picturesque stream. Division headquarters was established 
at Marbache. The elements of the Division were distributed in Belle- 
ville, Millery, Saizerais, Dieulouard, Pont-a-Mousson, Jezainville, 
Loisy, Ste. Genevieve, Ville-au-val, Norroy, Montauville, Port-sur- 
Seille, and Lesmesnils. 

This section lies directly south of Metz in distances varying 
from 10 to 14 kilometers. According to the plans of the Commander- 
in-Chief, Metz was selected as one of the next important objectives 
in the forward movement of the American Army. With several lines 
of railroads centering at Metz and passing into Germany, its use 
as a base of the German army, and its location, it was considered an 
important strategic point. At the same time it was strongly pro- 
tected by many outlying forts manned with powerful guns. 

In the chosen plan of isolating Metz, the 92nd Division would 
have occupied a prominent place between the Moselle and the Seille 
and nearer than any other unit to German soil (Lorraine). These 
plans were interrupted by the signing of the armistice on November 
11, 1918. 

The position of the enemy opposite the 92nd Division in the 
Marbache sector was strengthened by the fortifications of Metz. 
For this reason, the enemy was not falling back in this region as he 
was doing in other parts of the now shattered Hindenburg line farther 
to the north, but was stubbornly holding his ground until forced to 
fall back. 

Active operations commenced in this sector about the 8th of 
October. The 69th French Artillery was relieved from the Division 
on the 10th of October by the 62nd Field Artillery Brigade, American 
Expeditionary Forces. By the middle of October the greater part 
of the Division's forces had crossed to the east bank of the Moselle 
and was pressing the enemy steadily back to second line positions. 
Patrols and raiding parties kept in constant touch with the enemy all 
along the front, with ever-increasing artillery bombardments. Dur- 
ing the early days of November the enemy was driven from numerous 
positions which he held for many months and which were strongly 
fortified. Eeference to this series of rapid offenses launched by the 
92nd Division, in which the enemy was routed, is made in the follow- 
ing memorandum from the Commanding General : 



148 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

HEADQUARTERS 92nd DIVISION AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES 

A. P. O. 766 

7 November 1918. 

OPERATING MEMORANDUM NO. 41, 

1. When the Marbache sector was taken over by the 92nd Division, the 
Germans owned "No-man's-land" and were aggressive. They held Belle Air 
Farm, Bois de Tete d'Or, Bois Frehaut, Voivi'otte Farm, Voivrotte Wood, 
Bois de Cheminot, Moulon Brook. 

2. The consistent, aggressive action of our patrols, night and day, has 
resulted in many casualties to the enemy, and the capture of many prisoners. 

3. Each of the places named above has been raided, as has Eply also, 
and patrols have penetrated north nearly to the east and west line through 
Pagny. The enemy has been driven northward beyond Frehaut and Voivrotte 
Woods, and eastward from Cheminot Woods across the Seille, destroying the 
Cheminot Bridge, flooding the Seille and attempting to destroy the Seille 
bridge — evidence of the fact that he regards the 92nd Division as an uncom- 
fortable neighbor, with whom lie intends to avoid close relations in tlie future. 

4. West of the river excellent results have also followed energetic offen- 
sive action. The enemy has suffered losses in killed, wounded, and prisoners 
during the brief occupancy of this part of the sector. 

5. The results should greatly stimulate and encourage every man of the 
Division. With the prospect of efficient artillery support in the future, 
there will be no let-up in the hammering of the enemy wherever found. 

6. Unit commanders wiU promptly submit reports of all specially meri- 
torious action of officers and enlisted men, in order that the same may be 
appropriately recognized. 

7. This will be read to all troops of the 92nd Division. 

By Command of Major-General Ballou: 

(Signed) Allen J, Greer, 
Colonel, General Staff, Chief of Staff. 

Our own artillery brigade and ammunition train complete, joined 
the Division about the ISth of October, 1918. The splendid work of 
the artillery units soon showed itself in the effective support given 
in the capture of objectives tal^en from well-trained and seasoned 
soldiers — ^positions that had been organized and strengthened for 
more than four years. 

An attack on Pagny and other positions of the enemy was 
ordered by the Commanding General of the 183rd Brigade, 92nd Divi- 
sion, to start at 5 A. M., November 10, 1918. This attack was under 
way and progressing when orders to cease hostilities were received 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 149 

on the morning of the 11th of November. A report of that operation 
is appended. Another report by the Division Commander is also 
appended. 

HEADQUARTERS 183rD BRIGADE 

A. P. 0. No. 766, France, 

November 19, 1918. 
FROM: Commanding General, 183rd Brigade. 

TO: Commanding General, 92nd Division. 

SUBJECT: Report on Offensive Operations. 

1. On November 8, 1918, the 183rd Infantry Brigade was garrisoning 
a portion of the Allied line immediately east of the Moselle river and extend- 
ing from Pont-a-Mousson (east bank of Moselle river inclusive to Clemery, 
exclusive). This portion of the general front was known as Marbache Sector. 
Marbache Sector was normally divided into sub-sectors, namely, the sub- 
sector Seille, and the sub-sector Mousson. The sub-sector Seille comprised one 
center of resistance, the sub-sector Seille two, namely from East to West Lea 
Menils and I\Iousson. 

2. On November 8, 1918, plans were made at Brigade Headquarters for 
an attack to be executed on the morning of November 10, on the Bois Frehaut 
and the Bois Voivrotte by two battalions of infantry, each battalion sup- 
ported by its machine-gun company. The co-operation of the divisional artil- 
lery was procured for this attack. Trench mortars and 37-mm. guns were to 
support the attack. The object of this attack was to capture and hold the 
Bois Frehaut and the Bois Voivrotte with the object of advancing the line 
of observation of the Marbache Sector to the northern boundary of these 
woods. 

Operation Order No. 7, Hq. 183rd Brigade, Nov. 8, was issued describing 
the details of this attack. 

3. The attack was to be made on the Bois Frehaut by the 2nd Bn., 365th 
Inf., Major Warner A. Ross, commanding. The attack on the Bois Voivrotte 
was to be made by two platoons, 2nd Bn., 366th Inf. At the zero hour, one 
platoon, 366th Inf., was to occupy the Bois Cheminot in order to cover 
Cheminot bridge. 

4. On Nov. 8 Marbache Sector was garrisoned as follows : C. R. Seille, 
by the 3d Bn., 366th Inf. and Co. A, 350th M. G. Bn. ; C. R. Les Menils, by 
the 3rd Bn., 365th Inf. and Co. B 350th I\I. G. Bn. ; C. R. ]\Iou8son, by the 
1st Bn., 365th Inf. and Machine Gun Co., 365th Inf. 

The 2nd Bn., 366th Inf., and Co. C, 350th M. G. Bn., were in support 
position southern part Foret de Facq. The 2nd Bn. 365th Inf., and Co. D, 
350th M. G. Bn., were in support position western part Foret de Facq. The 



150 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

1st Bn., 366th Inf., and the M. G. Co., 366th Inf., were held as Brigade Re- 
serve at Bezaumont. 

5. On the afternoon of Nov. 9, the 2nd Bn., 365th Inf., was in Pont-a- 
Mousson, the 2nd Bn., 366th Inf., in the northern part of Foret de Facq, 
where they had been placed in preparation for the attack as specified above. 
The zero hour for the attack had been given for 5 A. M., November 10. 

6. The plans for the attack were changed by telephone instructions from 
the Commanding General, 92nd Division, to the Commanding General, 183rd 
Brigade, received 12 :45 A. M., Nov. 10. These instructions were to the effect 
that the second American Army would attack on the morning of Nov. 10 
at 7 :00 A. M. ; that the 92nd Division would attack at that hour, pushing the 
advance as expeditiously as possible, and holding all captured ground. 

Telephone messages were immediately sent the attacking troops, changing 
the hour for the attack from 5 :00 to 7 :00 A. M. The Commanding General, 
183rd Brigade, with the Brigade Adjutant, started out at 2 :00 A. M. by auto- 
mobile to consult the Commanding Officer, 365th Inf. and 366th Inf., with 
reference to the change in plans. Both of these officers were notified as to 
the new plans, and given preliminary instructions as to their execution. The 
Brigade Reserve Bn. was ordered alerted and moved to Camp Schnable, Foret 
de Facq. The supporting artillery was notified as to the change of plans. 

7. At 6 :15 A. M., Nov. 10, F. 0. No. 24, C. S. 92nd Div. was received. 
At 7:00 A. M., Nov. 10, attack as specified in Operation Orders No. 7 

above was launched. 

At 7 :25 A. M., F. 0. No. 19, 183rd Brigade, was issued. This order was 
based on F. 0. No. 24, 92nd Division, as above, and required the advance to 
be pushed bej'-ond the objective as ordered in Operation Order No. 7. It was 
in accord with verbal instructions given Regimental Commanders the early 
morning of Nov. 10. 

8. At 8:00 A. M., information was received that the French Division 
on our right was not attacking. Telephone instructions were then sent to the 
Commanding Officer 366th Inf. to hold his 3rd Bn. in C. R. Seille, and to have 
his 3rd Bn. maintain liaison between the French Division on our right and the 
attacking troops. 

At 8:12 A. M., a pigeon message was received from the C. 0. 2nd Bn., 
366th Inf., by runner, and relayed by telephone, to the effect that the Bois 
Voivrotte had been completely occupied and that three prisoners had been 
taken. 

At 9:00 A. M. a message was received that sharp fighting by machine 
guns was going on in the Bois Voivrotte and the Bois Frehaut. 

At 10:00 A. M., a runner message was received from the Commanding 
Officer, 2nd Bn., 365th Inf., to the effect that they were being heavily shelled 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 151 

in the Bois Frehaut by enemy artillery, and requesting counter battery fire ; 
it was also stated that their advance had almost reached the northern edge of 
Bois Frehaut. Heavy artillery was asked to counter-fire on enemy artillery, 
which they promptly did. 

At 10 :30 A. M. a message from the Division was received that the attack 
of the 367th Inf., 184th Brigade, had been repulsed (on our left), but that 
two companies were being sent forward to reinforce their attack. 

At 11 :15 A. M., a message from the C. 0. 2nd Bn., 365th Inf., to the 
effect that Bois Frehaut Vv-as completely occupied, that Boches were shelling 
woods with gas and high explosives, and requesting counter battery fire. 

At 11 :16, Heavy Artillery asked to counter fire on German battery, which 
they promptly did. 

At 11 :30, the Commanding General, 167th F. A. Brigade, called in con- 
sultation in reference to artillery preparation for a further advance. After 
consultation, it was decided to bring forward reinforcements, and to launch 
a new attack on the strong enemy positions of Champey, Bouxieres, and La 
Cote at 5 :00 P. M. 

11 :50 — Telephonic orders to Commanding Officer, 365th Inf., to move 
his 1st Bn. to the northern edge of Foret de Facq as Brigade reserve, and to 
move his P. C. to C. R. Les Menils, and take command of the advancing troops 
of his regiment. 

12:00 M. — Information from Commanding General, 92nd Div., that one 
Bn., 368 Inf., was moving to Pont-a-Mousson, east bank of river, as reserve 
of 183rd Brigade; that 368th Inf., less one Bn., would be concentrated at 
Camp Schnable as Division Reserve. 

1 :05 P. M.— F. 0. No. 20, 183rd Brigade, issued ; 2 :00 P. M., 365th Inf. 
reports capture one Boche, Bois Frehaut. 

3 :05 P. M.— Telephonic message from C. O. 2nd Bn., 366th Inf., that he 
had withdrawn his lines to southern edge of Bois Voivrotte because of heavy 
enemy shelling, high explosives and gas in woods. 

3:55 P. M. — Orders received from Commanding General, 92nd Division, 
not to launch attack as planned for 5 :00 P. M., but to consolidate positions 
gained, holding them at all costs against possible counter-attacks. 

4:00 P. M. — Telephonic message sent Commanding Officer 365th-366th 
Inf., C. G. 167th F. A. Brigade to this eflPect. 

4:10 P. M. — Operation Memo. Hq. 183rd Brigade issued. 

5 :50 P. M.— Telephonic instructions to C. 0. 365th Inf., 366th Inf., and 
C. G. 167th F. A. that attack specified in F. O. No. 20 would be made at 5 :00 
A. M. on Nov. 11. 

6 :00 P. M.— F. 0. No. 21 issued. 

6 :30 P. M. — F. 0. No. 25cs 92nd Division received. 



152 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

7 :30 P. M.— Message from C. 0. 365th Inf. that 1st Bn. was moving into 
Bois Prehaut to support of 2nd Bn. 

Nowmher 11. — 5 :(X) A. M,, attack launched as ordered in F. 0. No. 21. 

Attacking troops met by strong enemy artillery, machine gun and in- 
fantry fire. Troops on right had reached the outskirts of Bouxieres by 7 :30 
A. M. Troops on left had advanced a short distance, but had been forced to 
retire to woods.' 

7:18 A. M. — Telephonic message from Division to the effect that Armis- 
tice signed, effective at 11 hours, 11th Nov. ; that all hostilities must cease at 
that hour. All firing ordered stopped by our troops by 10 :45 A. M. Firing 
stopped promptly at that hour. 

The line held by our troops at the cessation of hostilities was as follows : 

Line shown by co-ordinates. Map, Pont-a-Mousson, 1/20,000. 

65-97; 76; 98 (Ferme de Ponce) ; 81:02 (N. W. corner) Bois Frehaut; 
92-02, N. W. corner Bois Frehaut, 93-01 ; 95-01 ; 95-95 ; 01-96, N. W. corner 
Bois Voivrotte; 07-97, N. E. comer Bois Voivrotte; 06-92, La Voivi'otte 
Ferme ; 02-87 ; Norroy, thence East and S. E. as formerly held ; 19-86 ; Bois 
Cheminot, held as an advance post. 

9. The enemy units engaged between the Moselle and the Seille were, 
from west to east, the 86th and 30th Regiments of Infantry, 31st Landwehr 
Brigade, and the 47th Infantry Regiment. These regiments were supported 
by one Bn. of Sharpshooters. East of the Seille river were the 70th Infantry 
Regiment and the 6th Grenadiers, formerly 10th Division. 

10. Summary: (a) Our advance was for about a depth of 3i/'2 kilo- 
meters. When this Brigade took over the sector just east of the Moselle river 
there was a deep re-entrant next to the river, due to the St. Mihiel drive 
which advanced the line several kilometers on west bank of the Moselle river, 
while the line on the east bank remained in place. 

The attack on the morning of Nov. 10, by the units of this Brigade, wiped 
out this re-entrant, by advancing our lines on the east bank of the Moselle 
river a distance of 21^4 km- 

The advance thus made was held against heavy artillery and machine 
gun fire and high concentration of gas. The attack was renewed on the 
morning of Nov. 11, lines being advanced a distance of 3^4 km., an original 
line. Our liaison with the troops west of the river was thereby greatly 
improved. 

(b) A total of six prisoners was captured; three in the Bois Frehaut and 
three in the Bois Voivrotte. 

(c) The following material was captured: 1,000 (approximately) gren- 
ades, all types; 5,000 (approximately) rounds ammunition; 25 (approxi- 
mately) boxes M. G. ammunition, in belts; 50 (approximately) rifles and 
bayonets, 10 (approximately) pairs field glasses, 4 (approximately) machine 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 153 

gims, 6 carrier pigeons, 1 signal lamp and battery, 2 Verey pistols, 3 carbide 
lamps, 100 helmets. Many overcoats, boots, canteens, belts, and other articles 
of equipment were left by the fleeing enemy. 

(d) The following were our casualties: 

Killed Wounded Gassed Missing Total 

365th Infantry 14 67 211 8 300 

366th Infantry 17 52 63 132 

350th M. G. Battalion 1 11 12 

Total 32 119 285 8 444 

(e) Full use was made of auxiliary arms, machine guns, 37 mm. guns, 
Stokes mortars, and rifle grenades. All of these weapons, except Stokes 
mortars, were brought into play in the heavy fighting in the Bois Frehaut to 
combat enemy machine-gun nests. 37 mm. guns were pushed well to the 
front when direct fire at machine-gun positions could be obtained. It was to 
the extensive use of these w^eapons that the rapid advance through the Bois 
Frehaut was due. Machine guns were used frequently to cover the flanks of 
the attacking infantry. They aided materially in protecting the N. E. corner 
of the Bois Frehaut from an enemy counter-attack from Bouxieres. Trench 
mortars were placed in position after the Frehaut woods were taken, to cover 
the new front. 

(f ) No tank or gas troops were available for this attack. Regtl. and Bn. 
gas officers and N. C. O.'s rendered valuable assistance in disinfecting in- 
fected areas, posting gas alarm sentinels, and upholding gas discipline. 

(g) The divisional artillery supported both attacks with a rolling bar- 
rage, preceding the troops. These barrages were very well laid and proved 
effective. It also rendered valuable work in placing heavy concentration fire 
on enemy strong points and machine-gun nests. Its counter-battery work 
was excellent. 

(h) The attack was executed over a very difficult terrain. For a distance 
of about li/o kni. in front of our lines, the terrain was open, heavily wired 
with a downward slope. It was well registered by the enemy artillery, as the 
numerous shell holes over its surface indicated. The Bois Frehaut is a wood 
of about 1,500 meters square and breaks the western half of the sector at- 
tacked, about 700 meters to the east of the Bois Voivrotte, a small wood about 
GOO meters square. Both of these woods were a mass of heavy German wire, 
much of it new. Their edges were protected by bands of heavy wire and 
chevaux-de-frise. Both of these woods were at the foot of and north of the 
ridge of which Eon hill, a hill 358 meters high, is the summit. From their 
southern slopes the ground rises slightly for a distance of about 700 meters, 



154 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

then falls again to a deep ravine traversing the Bois Frehaut from east to 
west. It then rises again, culminating in La Cote hill, a hill 1,500 meters 
north of the Bois Frehaut,- and 87 meters higher than the highest point of 
the Bois Frehaut, namely, Hill 260.8. This hill is heavily wooded on its 
summit, and was strongly held by infantry, machine guns, trench mortars, 
and light artillery. The southern slopes of this hill were protected by a small 
wood about 500 meters square about 200 meters north of the Bois Frehaut 
and by the strongly fortified towns of Bouxieres and Champey. These towns, 
together with the small wood in question, were heavily garrisoned by enemy 
infantry and machine guns. They formed together a dominating and strongly 
organized position, protected by heavy bands of wire. Numerous tank traps 
had been prepared south of this position. These positions dominated the 
Bois Voivrotte, the Bois Frehaut and the ground to the north. 

Conclusion. — The lines held by the Germans were unusually strong, 
Taeing the result of four years of stabilization in that sector. Their artillery 
was most active, as unquestionably during these years they had registered on 
every point of importance in the sector. Furthermore, their positions were 
the first line of defense of Metz. The troops occupying them were young 
efficient men and not old soldiers from a rest sector. 

From the time we entered the sector, our patrols were very active, so 
much so that we took complete possession of "no-man's-land." After the 
first few days we were unable to find any German patrols outside their lines. 

Previous to November 10, we made several reconnaissances in force (that 
is, employing a company in each instance) to ascertain if the Germans were 
still holding their lines. The abundance of machine-gun fire developed in 
each case, showed that they were. 

Our attack on the morning of November 10 was the first offensive move 
made by the Brigade which required artillery preparation. The Command- 
ing Officers of units making the attack, and also of the artillery, were con- 
stantly stating that they were hurried into these movements without proper 
preparation. Had they been familiar with such operations, the time allowed 
would have been sufficient. Our artillery was having its first experience in 
the line and was meeting with the usual difficulties : Lack of transportation, 
unfamiliarity with sector, little opportunity to register on probable targets, 
etc. 

There is no doubt that some details of the operation were not carried 
out as well as might have been done by more experienced troops. These were 
the results of mistaken judgment due to lack of experience, rather than to 
lack of the offensive spirit. These minor features have no effect on the gen- 
eral outcome. 

From my intimate contact with the troops making these attacks, I can 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 155 

state definitely that these men were just finding themselves. The improve- 
ment in the aggressive spirit from day to day was manifest. 

As a summary, I desire to again call attention to the following: Ist, 
that we were operating in a sector that had been organized for defense against 
us for over four years, and was made unusually strong on account of being 
in front of the great fortress Metz ; 2nd, that our inexperienced troops were 
operating against trained soldiers of the greatest military power of the world ; 
3rd, that from the time we entered the sector our troops were constantly on 
the offensive; 4th, to the success that was obtained, viz., removing the re- 
entrant and advancing our lines SYo kilometers. 

(Signed) Malvern Hill Barnum, 

Brigadier General, U. S. A. 

Major A. E. Sawkins, commanuing- the Second Battalion of the 
366tli Infantry, in referring to the same offensive operations of 
November lOth and 11th, 1918, said : 

2nd Battalion, 366th Infantry, 
17th November, 1918. 

FROM: Battalion Commander. 

TO: Commanding General, 92nd Division. 

SUBJECT: Conduct of troops in action. 

1. Reference to action in which this battalion was engaged in Bois de la 
Voivrotte on 10th and 11th November, 1918, the following report is made on 
conduct of officers and men while in action. 

Troops : 2nd Bn. 366th Infantry, Company C, 350th M. G. Bn. attached. 
Company A, 366th Infantry, 

Officers and men deserving special mention have been recommended in 
other communications. An observation of the general conduct of officers and 
men is the reason for this report. / desire especially to call to the attention 
of the Division Commander the fact that the handling of their units hy the 
company and platoon commanders was all tlmt could he expected from the 
vfJDst experienced ojjlcers. There was an absolute lack of any disorder, and I 
cannot say too much in praise of the manner in which these officers handled 
their men. The men responded as though at a maneuver, and although 
without food or sleep for 48 hours at time of the attack on morning of the 
nth November, the men went into action in such a manner that I feel proud 
to command such fine, soldierly troops. 

(Signed) A. E. Saw^kins, 

Major 366th Infantry. 



156 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

The Commanding General of the 92nd Division reported as to 
these operations of November 10-11, 1918, as follows : 

HEADQUARTERS NINETY-SECOND DIVISION 

American Expeditionary Forces 
A. P. 0. 766 

30 November, 1918. 
FEOM: The Commanding General, 92nd Division. 

TO: The A. C. of S., G-3, G. H. Q. 

SUBJECT: Report on Operations 10-11 November, 1918. 

1. This report made pursuant to paragraph 3, G. 0. 196, G. H. Q., 
American Expeditionary Forces, 1918, embodies the operations of this Divi- 
sion during the period 10-llth November, 1918. 

(1) Situation at Beginning of Operations 

On November 9, 1918, it having been reported that the enemy, disor- 
ganized, was retreating along the entire front, the Commanding General of 
the 2nd Army, of which this division is an element, gave the order for an 
attack at 7 hours, 10th November, 1918, along its entire front, following the 
enemy in his withdrawal, pushing with all energy to secure decisive results, 
and holding all ground taken. The mission assigned to the Division was to 
push forward west of the Seille river, along the heights on both banks of the 
Moselle river in the direction of Corny, maintaining liaison with the 32nd 
Army Corps (French) and the 7th Division on the left. The western boun- 
dary of its zone of action being the same but extending north — Preny (Excl.) 
— Gorze (excl.). At the beginning of operations 10th November, 1918, the 
92nd Division of the 6th Corps, 2nd Army, with three regiments in line and 
one in reserve, P. C. Marbache, held the Marbache sector, constituting the 
existing front of the 6th Corps and extending from Clemery (Excl.) to Prenj'- 
(Excl.). The 165th D. I. (Fr.), P. C. Custines, occupied the sector on the 
right. The 7th Division, P. C. Euvezin, occupied the sector on the left. The 
Divisional limits were as follows: 

Eastern Boundary, — Port-sur-Seille (inch) — Ste. Genevieve (inch) — ■ 
Bezamont (inch) — Ville-au-Val (incl.) — ^Autreville (inch) — Belleville (inch) 
— Marbache (incl.) — Sazerais (inch). 

Western Boundary. — Preny (excl.) — Eastern edges of B. des Rappes — 
Villers-sous-Preny (excl.) — about one kilom. west of Montauville— -Gezon- 
court (incl.) — Rogeville (inch). 

Southern Boundary. — Roiseres-en-Haye (excl.) — St. Georges (excl.). 

The portion of the sector east of the Moselle was divided into two sub- 
sectors. The dividing line being — Ste. Genevieve (inclusive) north through 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 157 

southern portion of Foret de Facq to a point on the Atton-Morville road about 
two km. N. E. of Atton (381.2—234.6) then N. E. along road for 1 km. to 
road cross, then north by west along Ste-Genevieve-Les Mennils road to road 
cross at (381.5 — 236.5) (1:50,000) Cheminot map, thence east by north along 
road to front at point 383.0 — 237.2. This portion of the sector was organ- 
ized in successive positions, viz. : 

(a) A covering position consisting of a line of observation and a zone 
of resistance and including the special defense position of the region of Aon. 

(b) A position of resistance consisting of a high line and a low line. 
The garrison east of the Moselle consisted of the 183rd Brigade and 

elements of Divisional Machine-Gun Battalions (349th) with Division and 
corps artillery support. The 366th Infantry with one battalion in line, one 
battalion in support, one battalion in reserve, garrisoned the sub-sector east 
of the Division line. This will be referred to as C. R. Seille. The other 
sub-sector east of the Moselle was garrisoned by the 365th Infantry with two 
battalions in line and one in support. Tlie areas occupied by these two bat- 
talions were referred to as C. R. Les Mesnils and C. R. Mouson respectively. 
The region included between the Moselle and the western boundary of the 
division area was known as the C. R. Vandieres, it was garrisoned by the 
367th Infantry with one battalion in line, one battalion in support, and one 
battalion in reserve. 

At the commencement of operations units of the Division were disposed 
in conformity with its defensive mission announced in F. 0. No. 19, Hqs. 92nd 
Division, 11 October, 18 (See Appendix "A"), and amplified by F. 0. No. 
20, Hqs. 92nd Division, 24 October 18, Appendix "B," F. 0. No. 23, Hqs. 
92nd Division, 8 November, 1918 (See Appendix "C"). 

In the event of forward movement, advance P. C.'s had been selected 
after reconnaissance and had been announced. The Division advance P. C. 
was at Ville-aurVal. 

On 10 November, 1918, at 3 :30 hours, F. 0. No. 4, Hqs. 6th Army Corps 
issued prescribing interalia as follows: 

"1. It is reported that the enemy, disorganized, is withdrawing along 
the entire front. 

"The second army will attack at 7 hours, 10th November, and follow 
closely the enemy in his withdrawal, pushing him with all energy to secure 
decisive results, and holding all grounds taken. 

"2. The 6th Army Corps will attack in conjunction with the 4th Army 
Corps on the left. 

"3. (a) The 92nd Division will push fonvard west of the Seille River 
along the heights on both sides of the Moselle River in direction of Corny. It 
will maintain liaison with the 32nd Army Corps (Fr.) on its right and the 



158 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

7th Division on its left; Western boundary of its zone of action being as at 
present, extended North as follows : Preny (exel.) — Gorze (excl.). 

* ' Artillery taken forward will be limited to that which can be fully horsed 
and adequately supplied with ammunition. 

**(b) Corps Artillery. Counter battery work on such targets as may 
be designated by the Chief of Artillery. 

"(c) TJie 115tli Engineers. Company D at disposal of Commanding 
General, 92nd Division. Regiment (less Company D) will await orders in 
Foret de Puvenelle. It will be in readiness to promptly repair the bridge 
across the Moselle River at Pont-a-Mouson and to open and maintain road 
communications North therefrom. 

"(d) Tlie Cliief of Air Service will make the necessary assignments of 
Artillery, infantry and command planes, and will prescribe the observation 
to be executed by the 10th Balloon Company. 

"(e) Corps Signal Troops will maintain communication between 92nd 
Division, Corps Artillery, 115th Engineers, Corps Air service and these head- 
quarters. " 

*********** 

In conformity with the foregoing, the Division Commander having re- 
ceived advance information, issued F. 0. No. 24, Hqs. 92nd Division, 3 hours, 
10 November, 1918, as follows : 

HEADQUARTERS 92nD DIVISION 
AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES, A. P. 0. 766, 

10 November, 1918, 3 hours. 
Field Order No. 24. 

1. 2nd Army attacks at 7 hours, 10 November, 1918. 6th Corps attacks 
with Western boundary same as at present, extending north — Preny (excl.; 
Gorze (excl.). Eastern limit of action — Seille River. 

2. 92nd Division will attack in direction of Corny, advancing from 
present front at 7 hours, 10 November, 1918. Decisive results will be ob- 
tained and all ground taken will be held. 

3. (a) Division Artillery wall support advance with standing and roll- 
ing barrage east of the Moselle in initial phase of advance, thereafter follow- 
ing advancing infantry with all mobile elements and supporting further ad- 
vance as occasion presents. 

(b) 183d Infantry Brigade will attack east of the Moselle River with 
elements of two battalions in line maintaining liaison with the 165th Division 
(Fr.) on the right. 

(c) 367th Infantry will attack west of the Moselle with two companies in 
line maintaining close contact with elements of the 7th Division on its left. 

(X) Liaison between advancing elements east and west of the Moselle 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 159 

will be maintained by all means possible. Strong combat liaison between all 
advancing elements will be maintained and liaison from front to rear will be 
given particular attention. 

(Y) Division reserve will await orders in alert positions. 

4. Administrative instructions follow. 

5. P. C.'s later. 

By command of Major General Ballon. 

(Signed) Allen J. Greer, 

Colonel, General Staff. 
Chief of Staff. 
The detailed dispositions of the infantry and artillery units in each of 
these C. R.'s (Centers of Resistance) are shown in the annexed reports of the 
Commanding General, 183rd Brigade, Commanding General 167th Field Ar- 
tillery Brigade, and the C. 0. 367th Infantry, which are hereto appended, 
and marked appendices "D," "E," and "F" respectively. 
(2) Tlie Attack — A Chronological Stateme7it of Enemy Units Engaged — 

Time and Place. 
1918 

9 November, 23 hour. Instructions received from 6th Army Corps in 
advance of F. 0. No. 4, 6th Army Corps, 10 November, 1918, relative to pro- 
jected offensive along front of 2nd Army. 

9 Nov. 23 hr.— Instinictions given to C. G. 183rd Brig., C. G. 167th F. A. 
Brig., C. 0. 337th Inf., relative to projected attack and in advance of F. 0. 
No. 24, Hqs. 92nd Div., issued. 

10 Nov. 3 hr. — 10 November, 1918, at 3 hours. The exact time when 
these instructions were received and detailed action taken shown on ap- 
pended reports. 

10 Nov. 4 hr.— Received F. 0. No. 4, Hqs. 6th Army Corps, dated 10 
November, 3 -.30 hrs., prescribing attack and confirming telephone instructions. 

10 Nov. 7 hr.— Attack initiated along front east of :Mosclle between 
Moselle and Seille Rivers. Division reserve in alert position at the time of 
the attack. 

10 Nov. 8 hr. — Information received that the French Division on right 
was not attacking, whereupon C. 0. 365th Infantry was directed to hold 3rd 
Battalion in C. R. Seille maintaining liaison with the French on right. 

10 Nov. 9 :30 hr. — Attack by 367th Infantry west of :Moselle not prose- 
cuted because of failure of the 56th Infantry, 7th Division, to capture Preny. 
The report of the C. 0. 367th Infantry at pages 2 and 3 shows the facts and 

reasons. 

10 Nov. 11 hr. — All first objectives east of ^loselle were attained. The 
exact progress of the attack and orders and messages sent and received are 



160 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

shown clearly in the appendices. They are not reproduced in great detail 
here. 

11 Nov. 1 :40 hr. — C. G. 184th Brig, directed to proceed with two remain- 
ing battalions and other remaining combat elements of the 184th Brigade to 
Foret de Facq, locating P. C. at crossroads at 382,5 — 233.3. Field and com- 
bat trains to same position after dark. Command to be placed off road await- 
ing employment. 

11 Nov. 3 :59 — Artillery directed to put down barrage on northern edge 
of Bois de la Voivrotte, this point not being occupied by our troops. 

11 Nov. 4:13 — Five o'clock advance called off. Divisional Artillery and 
6th Corps notified. Advance troops directed to organize first position. 

11 Nov. 16 :30— Received F. 0. No. 5, 6th Army Corps, 10 November, 
1918, 18 hr., directing continuation attk. 

10 Nov. 18 hr.— Issued F. 0. 25, Hqs. 92nd Division, 10 November, 1918, 
18 hr. (Annxd. as appendix **G"), continuation of attack directed. 

11 Nov. 5 hr. — Attack launched on front of 183rd Brigade between SeiUe 
and Moselle Rivers, direction as before. 

7:10 hr. — Information from 6th A. C. received that armistice had been 
signed, effective 11 hr., 11 November, 1918. Attacking troops met by strong 
enemy artillery, machine-gun and infantry fire. 

11 Nov. 10:45 A. M. — All firing by our troops ceased in accordance with 
armistice. 

(3) Statement of Enemy Units Engaged, Time and Place. 

Inasmuch as the 367th Infantry operating west of the Moselle made no 
advance due to the fact that it was necessary that the 7th Division should 
first capture Preny before an advance was practicable. No report is made 
here of enemy units engaged west of Moselle. The same condition applies 
under subheads (4) and (5) of this report. The report of the Commanding 
General of the 183rd Brigade under these heads is adopted with some modifi-^ 
cations as the report of the Division and to that extent is embodied herein. 

The enemy units engaged by elements of the 183rd Brigade between the 
Moselle and the Seille were, from west to east, the 96th and 30th regiments 
of infantry, 31st Landwehr Brigade, and the 47th Infantry regiment. These 
regiments were supported by one battalion of sharpshooters. East of the 
Seille River the 70th Infantry regiment and the 6th Grenadiers, formerly 10th 
Division, were encountered. See report of the Commanding General 183rd 
Brigade, appended. 

(4) SumwMry. 

Our advance was for a depth of 31/2 km. When this Brigade took over 
the sector Just east of the Moselle River there was a deep re-entrant next to 
the river, due to the St. Mihiel drive, which advanced the line several kms. 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 161 

on the west bank of the Moselle, while the line on the east bank remained in 
place. 

The attack on the morning of the 10th of November, by one battalion, 
365th Infantry, and the Machine Gun company of that regiment, and one 
battalion 366th Infantry supported by Company C, 350th Machine Gun Bat- 
talion, wiped out this re-entrant, by advancing our lines on the east bank of 
the Moselle River a distance of 2i/2 km. 

The advance thus made was held against heavy artillery and machine- 
gun fire and high concentration of gas. The attack was renewed on the 
morning of the 11th, the lines being advanced to the northern edge of the 
Bois Frehaut, a distance of 31/2 km. from an original line. Our liaison with 
the troops west of the line was thereby greatly improved. 

The line held by our troops at the cessation of hostilities was as follows: 
(Details already given). 

A total of six prisoners were captured, three in the Bois Frehaut and 
three in the Bois Voivrotte. 

The following material was captured: 1,000 grenades, 5,000 rounds of 
ammunition, 25 boxes of M-G ammunition in belts, 50 rifles and belts, 10 pair 
of field glasses, 4 machine-guns, 6 carrier pigeons, 1 signal lamp and battery, 
2 Verey pistols, 3 carbide lamps, 100 helmets, many overcoats, boots, canteens, 
belts, and other equipment left by the fleeing Germans. 

The following were our casualties: 

Killed Wounded Gassed Missing Total 

365th Infantry 14 67 211 8 300 

366th Infantry 17 52 63 132 

350th M-G Battalion 1 11 12 

Total for Brigade 32 119 285 8 444 

Full use was made of auxiliary arms for this attack — Machine-guns, 37- 
mm. guns, Stokes mortars, and rifle grenades. 

No tank or gas troops were available for the action. 

The Divisional Artillery supported both attacks, with a rolling barrage 
preceding the troops in placing heavy concentration fire on enemy strong 
points and machine-gun nests. 

The attack was executed over a very difficult terrain. For a distance of 
about 11/2 km. in front of our lines the terrain was open, heavily wired, with 
a downward slope. It was well registered by the enemy artillery as the 
numerous shell-holes over its surface indicated. The Bois Frehaut is a wood 
of about 1,500 meters square and breaks the western half of the sector at- 
tacked, about 700 meters to the east of the Bois Frehaut, and about on a line 



162 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

with the southern edge of the Bois Voivrotte, a small wood of about 600 
square meters. Both of these woods were a mass of heavy German wire, much 
of it new. Their edges were protected by heavy bands of wire and chevaux- 
de-frise. Both of these woods were at the foot of and north of the ridge of 
which Eon hill, a hill 358 meters high, is the summit. From their southern 
slopes, the ground rises slightly for a distance of about 700 meters, then falls 
again to a deep ravine traversing the Bois Frehaut from east to west. It 
then rises again, culminating in La Cote hill, a hill 1,500 meters north of Bois 
Frehaut and 87 meters higher than the highest point of the Bois Frehaut, 
namely Hill 260.8. This hill is heavily wooded on its summit and strongly 
held by infantry, machine guns, trench mortars and light artillery. The 
southern slopes of this hill were protected by a small wood about 500 meters 
square, about 200 meters north of the Bois Frehaut and by the strongly 
fortified towns of Bouxieres and Champey. These towns together with the 
small wood in question were heavily garrisoned by infantry and machine 
guns. They formed together a dominating and strongly organized position 
protected by heavy bands of wire. Numerous tank traps had been prepared 
south of this position. These positions dominated the Bois Voivrotte, the 
Bois Frehaut and the ground to their north. In the area west of the Lloselle, 
the ground in front of the position slopes to the north into a basin with 
little or no cover. On the west Preny heights rise precipitously out of the 
plain and the town and citadel dominate the entire basin up to Preny and 
beyond. 

This basin is enfiladed from the right by enemy artillery N. E. to S. E. 
over an are of 140 degrees in part by direct fire. Moulon creek crosses the 
basin from west to east about 1 km. in front of position. 

Creek line formerly held by enemy as advanced night outpost, taken by 
us and held for same purpose. This line in daylight can be reached by 
infiltration or by patrols but owing to flanking fire from Preny has been 
found untenable except at night, any small body of troops attracting both 
machine-gun and artillery fire under conditions of fair visibility. 

At the time of our attack east of the Moselle, there was no general re- 
tirement immediately on our front. A vigorous resistance was interposed by 
the enemy. The attack was made on very brief preparation, too brief in view 
of the strength of the enemy positions, which were very strongly held. The 
wire entanglements about Bouxieres rendered a very considerable artillery 
preparation necessary to make a further advance possible. The attack was to 
have been continued with this preparation had not the armistice occurred. 
A decided improvement in offensive spirit and aggressive action was shown 
by all troops engaged. 

(Signed) Charles H. Maetin, 

Major General Commanding. 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 163 

After the Armistice Was Signed 

Immediately following the signing of the armistice, the 92nd 
Division was named among those divisions scheduled to embark for 
the United States in the first available transportation. The various 
units of the division were withdrawn gradually from front line posi- 
tions to back areas for rest and renovation. 

At this time the rail facilities of France were taxed to the utmost 
in transporting supplies into the area to be occupied by the allied 
armies according to the terms of the armistice. In addition to the 
hundreds of troop trains going forward daily, all wagon roads lead- 
ing toward the region of the upper Rhine were crowded with troops 
forming the army of occupation. After waiting five weeks at Mar- 
bache, transportation w^as finally supplied and the Division moved 
down to Maronne for entrainment on the lOtli of December, 1918. 
Leaving Maronne between the 19th and 22nd of December the ele- 
ments of the Division arrived at Mayenne, in the zone of the embarka- 
tion center, on the morning of the 24th of December. Pending orders 
to move forward to Brest, the units of the Division were billeted in 
the following to\vns and villages : Mayenne, Ambrieres, Domfront, 
La Chapelle, Couterne, Lassay, Villaines, Javron. In this section, 
formerly a part of old Brittany, many evidences remain of the ear- 
liest days of the country's settlement. One of the principal roads 
leading through the section w^as laid out by Julius Caesar, more than 
fifty years before the birth of Christ ; at Domfront the old fort built 
by the Roman legions remains in a remarkable state of preservation. 
The language of the ancient Bretons is often spoken by the people 
at this time. 

Five weeks were spent in this area completing preliminaries 
incident to embarkation and waiting for transportation to the sea- 
board. The last units left Mayenne on the 29th of January, passing 
through the forwarding camp at Le Mans and arriving at Brest the 
first week in Febiniary. The first transports left Brest bearing our 
troops homeward on the 5th of February and were followed by others 
throughout the month and until the 12th of March, when the last 
unit of the 92nd Division landed at Hoboken, completing nine months 
of foreign service. 



164 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Casualties of the Division 

The total number of casualties in the 92nd Division was as 

follows : 

Officers Enlisted Men 

Killed in action 6 208 

Died of wounds 1 40 

Died of Disease 1 43 

Died of other causes 9 

Severely wounded 6 203 

Slightly wounded 46 348 

Gassed 43 672 

Missing 20 



103 1,543 

Total— 1,646 

Personal Conduct of Troops 

The statistics of the Judge Advocate's Department show that 
the individual conduct of the soldiers of the 92nd Division was highly 
creditable. Both in number of offenses committed against military 
law and the nature of the offenses, the record of the 92nd. Division 
compares most favorably with that of any other Division in the 
American Expeditionary Forces. The only case of a conviction with 
death penalty assessed applied to a soldier who was not a member of 
the 92nd Division, but whose trial was held in the Division's courts 
for convenience. 

During the month of October, twelve hundred enlisted men were 
granted furloughs with privilege of visiting Aix-lcs-Bains, the leave 
center for soldiers of the American Expeditionary Forces. The 
report of the Commanding Officer of Aix-les-Bains leave area is 
referred to in the copy of General Order 31 given below : 

HEADQUARTERS 92nD DmSION 
AMERICAN EXPEDITIONARY FORCES 

A. P. 0. 766 

.T^'November, 1918. 

General Orders No. 31. 

1. The Division Commander desires to make known to the members of 
this command the fact of his appreciation of the exemplary conduct of the 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 165 

men composing the first and second leave quotas at Aix-les-Bains during 
October, 1918. 

The Commanding Officer of Aix-les-Bains reports that the neatness, gen- 
eral appearance, and military courtesy of the men of the 92nd Division while 
on leave, was highly commendable. 

By Command of Major General Ballou. 

(Signed) Allen J, Greer, 

Colonel, General Staff, 
Chief of Staff. 
Official : 

EdW. J. TURGEON, 

Major, Infantry. 
Adjutant, 

The Artillery Brigade 

From the outset of the 92nd 's organization, it was a problem to 
get together and build up an artillery brigade that would in all 
essentials be thoroughly efficient and dependable. In such warfare 
as the European war entailed, the artillery arm was of the greatest 
importance. It was doubted whether or not an artilleiy brigade 
made up of Negro soldiers could be developed and sufficiently trained 
in the technique of artillery to make an effective fighting artillery 
unit. Men were needed for this branch of the service who were 
educated and who could be depended upon to know fractions and 
be able to read scales, deflections, and other technical details. In 
the ordinary run of the enlistment, the draft did not furnish enough 
men qualified along these lines to build up the artillery regiments, 
and it therefore became necessary for the officers of the artillery 
brigade to make special canvasses to secure a sufficient number of 
qualified men. In this work, voluntary enlistments were called for. 
In the course of time enough men were enlisted to make up the 
Artillery Brigade. Tuskegee Institute furnished a group of students. 
Baltimore, Pittsburg and other cities furnished men from the high 
schools and other institutions. Through this special canvass the 
great bulk of the artillery troops was secured. 

In recruiting these men, specially qualified for the artillery regi- 
ments, through the process of voluntary enlistments, much credit is 
due the following officers of the Brigade: General John H. Sher- 
burne, Colonels Fred T. Austin, William E. Cole, Dan T. Moore; 
Lieutenant-Colonels Walter E. Prosser, Edward L. Carpenter, 



166 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Cliarles L. Blakely; Captains Royal F. Nash, William Heffner, and 
Lieut. Harry K. Tootle. The last named officer made personal can- 
vasses in the churches and schools of Pittsburg and other cities. 

As a result of this plan of building up the Artillery Brigade, the 
three regiments were made up of picked men, forming the first artil- 
lery brigade of Negroes ever organized in the world. During the 
training period and afterward on the battlefield, General Sherburne 
frequently expressed the opinion that his artillerymen were the 
equals of any artillerymen in the American Expeditionary Forces. 
Even during the short time in which the artillery was engaged, the 
high degree of efficiency was evidenced by the accuracy and effective- 
ness of their barrages and bombardments as laid down by these 
Negro gunners. 

The following is a copy of the last General Order issued to the 
Brigade by General Sherburne just before his transfer from the 
Division to take up other duties : 

HEADQUARTERS 167th FIELD ARTILLERY BRIGADE 

92nd division, a. e. f. 

3 February, 1919, 
General Orders No. 1. 

1. In leaving the 167th Field Artillery Brigade, to take up other duties, 
the Brigade Commander wishes to record in General Orders the entire satis- 
faction it has given him to have commanded the Brigade, the first Brigade 
of Negro artillerymen ever organized. The satisfaction is due to the excellent 
record the men have made. Undertaking a work that was new to them, they 
brought to it faithfulness, zeal, and patriotic fervor. They went into the line 
and conducted themselves in a manner to win the praise of all. They had 
been picked for important work in an offensive which had been planned to 
start after November 11. 

2. The Brigade Commander will ever cherish the words of the Com- 
mander-in-Chief, the compliments he paid in all sincerity to this Brigade, 
while he watched it pass in review last Wednesday. He wishes the Brigade to 
understand that these words of appreciation were invoked because each man 
has worked conscientiously and unflaggingly to make the organization a 
success. 

3. The Brigade Commander feels that he should also make an acknowl- 
edgment in General Orders of the remarkable esprit-de-corps displayed by the 
officers of the brigade. They were pioneers in a field where, at the start, 
success was problematical. This being the first brigade of its kind ever 
organized, it has been only natural that the work of the men should have 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 167 

featured prominently, yet the same prominence and the same praise should 
be accorded the officers. While the Brigade Commander takes this occasion 
to praise splendid work, he believes the greatest praise will come from the 
men themselves, not only now, but ever in greater measure when they have 
returned to civilian life and have secured the perspective of time and ex- 
perience that will teach them how fortunate they were in making the race's 
initial effort as artillerymen under officers who were both skillful artillei*}'- 
men and sympathetic leaders. 

By Command of Brigadier General Sherburne. 

(Signed) H.\i{UY King Tootle, 

First Lt. F. A., U. S. A. 
Acting Adjutant. 

Praised by General Pershing 

The passage in the foregoing General Order from General Sher- 
burne, in which allusion is made to the compliments from the Com- 
mander-in-Chief, refers to the address delivered to the assembled 
units of the 92nd Division at Le Mans on the 28th of January, 1919. 
On this occasion General Pershing reviewed the troops of the Divi- 
sion for the last time before its embarkation for the United States. 
In the course of his address to the officers and soldiers of the Divi- 
sion, the Commander-in-Chief, General Pershing, said: 

"I want you officers and soldiers of the 92nd Division to know 
that the 92nd Division stands second to none in the record you have 
made since your arrival in France. I am proud of the part you have 
played in the great conflict which ended on the 11th of November, yet 
you have only done what the American people expected you to do 
and you have measured up to every expectation of the Commander- 
in-Chief. I realize that you did not get into the game as early as 
some of the other units, but since you took over your first sector you 
have acquitted yourselves with credit, and I believe that if the 
armistice had not become effective on the 11th day of November, 
the 92nd would have still further distinguished itself. I commend 
the 92nd Division for its achievements not only in the field, but on 
the record its men have made in their individual conduct. The 
American public has every reason to be proud of the record made by 
the 92nd Division." 

The following memorandum, issued on the date on which Major 
General Ballon left the Division as Commander to take up other 



168 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

duties to which, he had been transferred, marks the last official order 
from the officer to whom, more than to any other individual, is due 
the credit for orgamzing and training the first Division of American 
Negro soldiers ever placed in the field : 

HEADQUARTERS 92nD DIVISION 

American Expeditionary Forces 
A. P. 0. 766 

18 November, 1918. 
Me^norandum: 

Five months ago today the 92nd Division landed in France. 
After seven weeks of training, it took over a sector in the front line, and 
since that time some portion of the Division has been practically continuously 
under fire. 

It participated in the last battle of the war with creditable success, 
continuously pressing the attack against highly organized defensive works. 
It advanced successfully on the first day of the battle, attaining its objectives 
and capturing prisoners. This in the face of determined opposition by an 
alert enemy, and against rifle, machine-gun and artillery fire. The issue of 
the second day's battle was rendered indecisive by the order to cease firing 
at eleven A. M. — when the armistice became eifective. 

The Division Commander, in taking leave of what he considers himself 
justly entitled to regard as Ms Division, feels that he has accomplished his 
mission. His work is done and will endure. The results have not always 
been brilliant, and many times were discouraging, yet a well organized, well 
disciplined and well trained colored Division has been created and commanded 
by him to include the last shot of the war. 

May the future conduct of every officer and man be such as to reflect 
credit upon the Division and upon the Colored race. 

By Command of Major General Ballou : 

(Signed) Allen J. Gremi, 

Colonel, General Staff, 
Chief of Staff. 
Official: 
Edw. J. Turgeon^ 
Major, Infantry, 
x\djutant. 

Changes in Official Personnel 

Through the process of transfers and promotions, many changes 
occurred in the official personnel of the numerous elemenrs of the 
92nd Division. The same was true on a larger scale of the entire 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 169 

American Expeditionary Forces. In keeping with military methods 
of promotions, transfers, etc., every promotion, transfer, or discharge 
resulted in a chain of promotions or transfers or vacancies in all 
units affected. Through this method, every unit of the A. E. F. 
experienced a continual changing and shifting of its official personnel. 
This was true of Field officers as well as Staff officers. Among the 
names of officers who made up the Staff of the 92nd Division when it 
sailed for France in 1918, not one was on the roster when the 
Division returned. 

The following synopsis, with military record, of the Division 
Commanders gives an idea of the changes in the General Staff: 

Commanding General: — 

1. Major General Charles C. Ballou : Born in Orange, Schuy- 
ler County, New York, June 13, 1862. Entered West Point June 6, 
1882, by appointment from Fourth District, Illinois. Graduated June 
12, 1886. Commissioned 2d Lt., 16tli Infantry, July 1, 1886, and served 
in that regiment in Texas, Utah, and Sioux campaign of 1890-91 in 
South Dakota. Promoted 1st Lt., 12th Infantry, April 23, 1893. 
Served in Florida, Alabama, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, Georgia, 
Illinois, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Missouri. Mustered in 8th and 
9tli Illinois Volunteers at Camp Tanner, 1898. Promoted Captain, 
12th Infantry, March 2, 1902. Served in that regiment as captain in 
the Philippine Insurrection, during which time he participated in 
several battles and small actions. Name sent to Senate by President 
Roosevelt for confirmation for brevet of Major for ** distinguished 
gallantry in action near Anzeles, Luzon, P. I.," August 16, 1899. 
Quartermaster 12th Infantry. Transferred to 15th Infantry Feb- 
ruary, 1904. Quartermaster 15th Infantry. Commissary 15th Infan- 
try. Transferred to 12th Infantry, February, 1906. Detailed in 
Quartermaster Department October, 1908. Promoted Major 7th In- 
fantry, June 26, 1909. Duty in Quartermaster General's office 
1909-10. Transferred to 24th Infantry in 1912. Lt. Colonel 24th 
Infantry February 7, 1915. Commanded 24th Infantry during por- 
tion of campaign in Mexico. Colonel of Infantry July 19, 1916. Con- 
ducted Training Camp for Colored Officers, Ft. Des Moines, Iowa, 
1917. Brigadier General, August, 1917. Commanded Depot Brigade, 
Camp Dodge, Iowa, September and October, 1917. Major General, 
November 28, 1917. Organized, trained and commanded 92nd Divi- 



170 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

sion, October 26, 1917, to November 19, 1918. Attended Infantry and 
Cavalry School at Ft. Leavenworth Field Officers' School, and War 
College, Five times in Philippine Islands. Sailed for France June 
10, 1918. On front line August 24 to November 19, 1918. 

2. Major General Chaeles H. Maetin : Commanded 86th Divi- 
sion prior to transfer to 92nd Division. Organized 86th Division at 
Camp Grant, 111. Camp Commander Camp Grant, 111., 1917-18. 
Commanded 92nd Division from November 19, 1918, to December 
15, 1918. 

3. Brigadier General James B. Eewin: Cadet U. S. Military 
Academy June 12, 1875. Second Lieutenant, Cavalry, June 12, 1880. 
First Lieutenant, 4th Cavalry, March 18, 1886. Captain, 4th Cavalry, 
March 18, 1896. Major, 9th Cavalry, April, 1903. Lieutenant 
Colonel, Inspector General's Department, May, 1911. Colonel, 
January, 1914. Brigadier General, August, 1917. With 82nd Divi- 
sion to December 27, 1917. Organized and served with 6th Division 
to December 14, 1918. Commanding 92nd Division since December 
15, 1918. Honor Graduate Infantry and Cavalry schools, class 1883. 
Inspector General 1906-10 and 1911-15. Adjutant General Septem- 
ber, 1914-August, 1915. Served in Indian wars, Philippine Insurrec- 
tion, Punitive Expedition in Mexico, and European War, 1914-18. 

Aides-de-Camp: — 

Staff of General Ballon — Captain Chauncey Dewey. 

Staff of General Martin— Captain J. E. Eddy, Captain E. H. 
Spencer, Captain Gordon McCormick. 

Staff of General Erwin — Lieutenant Charles H. Cox, Lieutenant 
Henry B. Tompkins. 

Chiefs of Staff:— 

1. Colonel Allen J. Geeee : Appointed Second Lieutenant, 4th 
Tennessee Volunteers, July 5, 1898. Second Lieutenant 4th Infantry, 
October 5, 1899. Appointed First Lieutenant, July 1, 1901. Trans- 
ferred to 26th Infantry, September 29, 1904. Twenty years con- 
tinuous service in grades of second and first lieutenants, captain and 
major in regular army. Appointed Lieutenant Colonel and assigned 
to duty as Chief of Staff, 92nd Division, November 2, 1917. Promoted 
to rank of Colonel, August, 1918. Continuous service as Chief of 
Staff with 92nd Division until December 4, 1918. 

2. Colonel Geoege K. Wilson: Regular Army, May 1, 1898. 



THE NEGRO COMBAT DIVISION 171 

Second Lieutenant, Infantry, June, 1900. First Lieutenant, May, 
1904. Captain, April, 1915. Major, August, 1917. Lieutenant 
Colonel, June, 1918. Colonel, October, 1918. Transferred to 92nd 
Division as Chief of Staff, December 4, 1918. 

Assistant Chiefs of Staff: — 

Lieutenant Colonel James P. Barney, Major Frederick P. 
Sclioonmaker, Lieutenant Colonel Van L. Willis, Major Cliarles S. 
Buck, Major Donald J. McLachlan, Lieutenant Colonel John D. 
Sayles, Major Harding Polk, Major H. L. Taylor, Lieutenant Colonel 
James L. Cochran. 

Division A djutants : — 

Major Sherburne Whipple, Captain Edward J. Turgeon (Act- 
ing), Major Alfred E. Sawkins, Major Ralph H. Leavitt, Major 
Edward J. Turgeon. 

Division Inspectors: — 

Major Robert P. Harbold, Major Clifford D. Davidson, Major 
Clifford B. King, Major Clift"ord D. Davidson. 

Division Quartermasters : — 

Colonel Edward L. Glasgow, Major Odiorne H. Sampson, Major 
Joseph T. Byrne. 

Division Surgeon: — 

Lieutenant Colonel Perry L. Boyer, Lieutenant Colonel Jonas T. 
White. 

Division Ordnance Officer: — 

Major Philip S. Gage, Captain Warner F. Russell. 

Division Judge Advocate: — 

Major Alfred M. Craven, Major Adam E. Patterson. 

Visitors to the Division 

During the sojourn of the 92nd Division in France, several dis- 
tinguished visitors, all of whom were interested in war work of one 
phase or another, called at headquarters, or visited camps where our 
troops were quartered. 

In July, Miss Elsie Janis, famous actress and movie star, in 
company with her mother, visited the Division at Bourbomio-les- 
Bair". The coming of Miss Janis had not been generally announced. 



172 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

It was therefore only a small group of soldiers whom she entertained 
in an impromptu program in the city park on the afternoon of her 
visit. 

Mr. Ralph W. Tyler, of Columbus, Ohio, editor and writer, and 
formerly Auditor of the Navy under President Roosevelt, visited the 
Division during the month of October and remained throughout sev- 
eral weeks in the Marbache sector. Mr. Tyler visited a number of 
organizations of Negro troops not included in the 92nd Division. 
During his tour he represented the Committee on Public Information. 

Dr. R. R. Moton, principal of Tuskegee Institute, in company 
with Mr. Thomas Jesse Jones, national educator, Mr. Nathan Hunt 
of Tuskegee Institute, and Mr. Lester A. Walton, of the New York 
Age, visited the Division in December at Marbache. Dr. Moton 
came as the representative of the administration at Washington and 
directly from the War Department to bring official greetings to 
Negro troops in France. Dr. Moton discharged this mission in a 
manner creditable to himself and to the race. 

Dr. John Hope, President of Moorehouse College, Atlanta, 
Georgia, energetic Y. M. C. A. worker, visited the Division from time 
to time in connection with Y. M. C. A. work. 

Dr. W. E. B. DuBois, editor and writer, visited the Division 
during the months of December and January. 



CHAPTER XII 

CITATIONS AND AWARDS, 92ND DIVISION 

Officers and Men of the Famous Negro Division Whose Heroic 
Conduct Gained for Them the Distinguished Service Cross — 
Details of Their Deeds of Heroism in Action — Special M edition 
of Officers and Men by Various Commanding Officers. 

The gallant Ninety-second Division, composed entirely of colored 
American troops, received a great number of citations and awards 
for meritorious and distinguished conduct on the battlefields of 
France, and besides those who earned the coveted medals there were 
many more members of the Division who were specially mentioned 
in communications from Headquarters and by the commanding 
officers of the various units, as appears hereafter. The lists given 
below, however, are necessarily incomplete, as many recommenda- 
tions for awards were still under consideration when this volmne 
went to press. 

The following is reproduced from a January (1919) issue of the 
Army and Navy Journal : 

' ' COLORED TEOOPS OF THE A. E. P. VABIOUSLY HONORED. ' ' 

"Colored troops forming the 92nd Division of the A. E. F. have 
recently been awarded many honors. The entire 1st battalion of the 
367th Infantry have been cited for bravery and awarded the Croix 
de Guerre by the French military authorities. 

''The citation was made because of the bravery and fine sei'\'ice 
of the battalion in the last engagement of the war, the drive toward 
Metz on November 10 and 11. 

''Major-General Martin, U. S. A., commanding the 92nd Divi- 
sion, has cited a number of colored officers, noncommissioned officers 
and privates of the 365th Infantry for meritorious conduct in action 
at Bois Frehaut on November 10 and 11. The officers cited are 
Captain John L. Allen, Lieuts. Leon F. Stewart, Frank L. Drye, 

173 



174 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Walter Lyons, David W. Harris, Benjamin F. Ford, George L. Gains, 
and Russell C. Atkins, all U. S. A. In another order, Lieut. Nathan 
0. Goodloe, of the machine-gun company of the 368th Infantry, was 
commended for meritorious conduct in the Argonne Forest. In the 
entire Division, fourteen colored officers and forty-three enlisted 
men have been cited for bravery in action and awarded the Distin- 
guished Service Cross. The total casualties suffered by the Division 
since its arrival in France number 1,748. Of officers, six were killed 
in action and one died of wounds ; 46 officers were wounded and 39 
gassed. Of enlisted men, 31 died of wounds, 203 were killed in action, 
543 were wounded, 661 were gassed, 40 died of disease, and 28 were 
reported missing." 

The following letter of commendation is self-explanatory: 

HEADQUARTERS FIRST BATTALION, 367tH INFANTRY 

FROM: Commanding Officer, 1st Battalion, 367th Infantry. 

TO: Commanding Officer, 367th Infantry. 

SUBJECT: Conduct of Company A. 

1. I wish to call attention of the regimental commander to the merito- 
rious conduct of Company A on the night of November 2 and 3. 

2. Under intense shell fire of gas and H. S. lasting two hours, the com- 
pany maintained its advanced positions, staying there without any shelter 
and finally repelling the enemy raid and capturing one prisoner. 

3. The conduct of Captain Peter McCall, his officers and men was such 
as deserves the highest commendation, and in my opinion merits mention. 

(Signed) Charles L. Appleton, 

Major; 367th Infantry. 

Extended space would be required to detail the meritorious work 
of the individual units of the Division throughout the several opera- 
tions in which it participated. In the Argonne-Meuse offensive, after 
overcoming its first extreme difficulties, the 368th Infantry performed 
gallant service. Among the officers whose conduct was mentioned 
for gallantry in the Argonne were Captain T. M. Dent, promoted 
after commendation for special bravery and heroism ; Captain R. A. 
Williams, who also won commendation of his regimental commander 
for skillful handling of his troops in the crucial advance through the 
Argonne; Lieut. Charles G. Young and Captain Thomas E. Jones, 
of the 368th, who each won the D. S. C. for extraordinary heroic 
service and gallant conduct in the Argonne Forest. 



CITATIONS AND AWARDS, 92ND DIVISION 175 

Of the 367 til Regiment, the unit organized and trained by Colonel 
James A. Moss, much could be said of its excellent record, both in 
the St. Die sector and in the Argonne and on the Moselle in front of 
Metz. In this last-named position it rendered its most distinguished 
service during the closing days of the war. On the 10th of November, 
an attack was made on Pagny, a stronghold of the German line 
opposite the Metz forts. In the general advance, two battalions of 
the 56th Infantry, a white unit on the left of the 367th, after advanc- 
ing a half mile abreast of the 367th, became hopelessly entangled in 
the enemy's wire entanglements and were being slaughtered by 
German machine-gun batteries. Our own advance was stopped, and 
a part of the 367th was sent to the rescue of the 56th in order to 
cover their withdrawal from the perilous position. The 367th dis- 
patched two machine-gun companies, one of their own and the other 
from the 350th machine-gun battalion. A counter fire was turned on 
the German positions, which silenced their batteries, while the 56th 
retired leaving a third of their men dead or wounded. In the mean- 
time the 367th held the position until relieved by reinforcements from 
the 56th and then resumed their advance tov/ard Pagny. Doubtless 
the entire forces of the 56tli would have been wiped out but for the 
timely rescue of the 367tli. For this action the entire battalion was 
cited by the French commanding officer under whom the 56th was 
brigaded. 

Awarded the Distinguished Service Cross 
The Distinguished Servdce Cross of the United States was 
awarded to the following officers and men of the 92nd Division, for 
the heroic deeds and exploits stated after their respective names : 
HoRTON, Ya^, Corporal, Company E, 366th Inf. (A. S. No. 2168859). 
Medal Number 431. For extraordinary heroism in action near 
Lesseau, France, 4 September 1918. 

During a hostile attack, preceded by a heavy minenwerfer 
barrage, involving the entire front of the battalion, the combat 
group to which this courageous soldier belonged was attacked 
by about twenty of the enemy, using liquid fire. The sergeant 
in charge of the group and four other men having been killed, 
Corporal Horton fearlessly rushed to receive the attack and the 
persistency with which he fought resulted in stopping the attack 
and driving back the enemv. 



176 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Home address: Mrs. Minnie Horton, mother, Route 5, 
Box 93, Athens, Ala. 

Medal presented to above named soldier Dec. 2, 1918, near 
Pont-a-Monsson. 
Fisher, Aaron E., 2nd Lieut., 366th Infantry, Medal No. 432. For 
extraordinary heroism in action near Lesseau, France, 3 Sep- 
tember 1918. 

Lieut. Fisher showed exceptional bravery in action when his 
position was raided by a superior force of the enemy by directing 
his men and refusing to leave his position although he was 
severely wounded. He and his men continued to fight the enemy 
until the latter were beaten off by counter attack. 

Home address : Benjamin Fisher, father. General Delivery, 
Lyles, Lidiana. 

Lieut. Fisher was evacuated to Base Hospital No. 45, Sept. 
18, 1918, consequently his medal was not presented to him while 
in the Division. 
Williams, Joe, Pvt., Company E, 366th Inf. (A. S. 2169035). Medal 
No. 433. For extraordinary heroism in action near Lesseau, 
France, 4 September 1918. 

Private Williams was a member of a combat group which 
was attacked by twenty of an enemy raiding party, advancing 
under heavy barrage and using liquid fire. The sergeant in 
charge of the group was killed and several others, including 
Private Williams, were wounded. Nevertheless, this soldier 
with three others fearlessly resisted the enemy until they were 
driven oif . 

Home address: Mrs. Carrie Gordon, friend, Octon, Ala. 

Medal presented to above named soldier Dec. 2, 1918, near 
Pont-a-Mousson. 
Brown, Roy A., Pvt., Co. E, 366th Inf. (A. S. 2168841). Medal No. 
434. For extraordinary heroism in action near Lesseau, France, 
4 September 1918. 

Private Brown was a member of a combat group which was 

. attacked by twenty of an enemy raiding party, advancing under 

a heavy barrage and using liquid fire. The sergeant in charge 

of the group was killed and several others, including Private 

Brown, were wounded. Nevertheless, this soldier with three 




SECRETARY BAKER'S WAR CARTNET. 
Top Left to Right — Hon. Benedict Crowell. Assistant Secretary of War: Hon. E R. Stet- 

tinius, Second Assistant Secietaiy of War; Dr. Ernest Martin Hopkins, I r.^sidont 

Dartmouth College. Special Assistant. 
Center — Hon. Newton D. Baker. Secretary of War. A/r,,.„h nh;..f 

Below—Dr: F. B. Keppel, Third Assistant Secretary of War: General P. (. Maich Chi< 

of Staff U. S. Army, and Dr. Emmett J. Scott, Special Ass;istant to the Secretai.v ot 

War, representing- the interests of the Negro Race of the United States, 




GROUP OF COLORED OFFICERS. 
Top, Left to Right-lst LL B A. Jackson 350th Mchn. G,m B„.; 1st Lt. Abraham Morse, 
cIl5!^&aS''^S^B^='ca^^pSr;e^s^„„fer|&' h |'t'[''is. Lt Ohas. H. Fearin,, 

B.,.i'^hftriSo. 1f»Jo^^?ri.?.Tfi;fnt|ri/p°pracer: is. L.. Benjamin F. Ford, 

365th Inf.; 1st Lt. Anderson Trapp, 366th Inf. 




Above — Nes'i'o troops returnins' to camp Ix-liind tlio lines aftor a strenuous day on tlit> 

Wc'stein Front during operations on the Maine. 
Center — Officers of Dental Corps attached to various units of the 92nd Division. With 

the exception of Capt. Jacob Drause, Division Dentist, all were Negroes. 
Below — The American lied Cross knew no color line and sought to render the same 

service to Colored as to White troops. 




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Toi}, Left — Capt. Moody Staten, 317th Military Police. Center- — 2nd Lt. Charles Udell 
Turpin, 365th Infantry. Belotv — 1st Lt. E. C. Morris, 366th Infantry. 

Center Panel — Major James E. Walker, 1st Separate Battalion, District of Columbia N. G. 

Toth Right — Capt. Thos. E. Jones, 368th Infantry, 92nd Div., Awarded Distinguished Service 
Cross for bravery at Argonne Forest. 

Right Cent&r — Capt. Samuel Reid, 317 A. T., Veteran of Spanish "War and Philippine In- 
surrection; served over thirty years in United States Army, retired since close of the 
war. 

Below — Sergt. Rufus Pinckney, Baltimore, Md., 1st Separate Company, 372nd Inf., wears 
hig'hest honors from French Government; captured 15 Germans, saved French 
Officer's life, fought in Champagne, Argonne and at Verdun. 




GROUP OF LEADING WOMEN WAR WORKERS. 
Centei- — Miss Eva D. Bowles, Secretary of Colored Women's War Work in cities. National 

Board of the Young- Women's Christian Association. 
Above, Left — Miss May B. Belcher. Field Worker among- colored -women of War Work 

Council: a graduate of Sargent School, studied at Moody Institute and later Secretary 

of Phyllis Wheatley Branch. Y. W. C. A. in St. Louis. 
Right — Alice Dunbai- Nelson (formerly Mr.s. Peail Laurence Dunbar), recognized leader 

in mol)ilization of colored women of the United States for War Work under auspices 

Council of National Defense. 
Below, Left — Miss Mary E. Jackson, Special Industrial Worker among colored women for 

War Work Council. 
Right — Mrs. Louise J. Ross, Chairman New Orleans Chapter Anurican Red Cross, recog- 
nized leader of the race in the South. 




Above — Amciican Negio Suldicrs in hospital, Glasgow, Scotland, receiving cisarettos and 
chocolates from Red Cross Chaplain Thos. E. Swan and a visit from Mrs. Jas. 
Gardiner, one of the Red Cross Worlvers. 

Below — Sergeants of Headquarters Company 372nd Infantry "somewhere in France" just 
before the big drive. 



CITATIONS AND AWARDS, 92ND DIVISION 177 

others fearlessly resisted the enemy until they were driven off. 

Home address ; Mrs. Ellen Brown, mother, 620 Madison St., 
Decatur, Ala. 

Medal presented to above named soldier Dec. 2, 1918, near 
Pont-a-Mousson. 
Merrifield, Ed., Private, Co. E, 366th Inf. (A. S. No. 2817823). 
Medal No. 435. Far extraordinary heroism in action near 
Lesseau, France, 4 September 1918. 

Although he was severely wounded. Private Merrifield re- 
mained at his post and continued to fight a superior enemy force 
which had attempted to enter our lines, thereby preventing the 
success of an enemy raid in force. 

Home address: Mrs. Lucinda Merrifield, mother, Green- 
ville, Illinois. 

Private Merrifield was evacuated to Base Hospital No. 17, 
Sept. 30, 1918, consequently his medal was not presented to him 
while in the Division. 
Hammond, Axex., Private, Co. E, 366th Inf. (A S. No. 2169003). 
Medal No. 436. For extraordinary heroism in action near Les- 
seau, France, 4 September 1918. 

Although he was severely wounded. Private Hammond re- 
mained at his post and continued to fight a superior enemy force 
which had attempted to enter our lines, thereby preventing the 
success of an enemy raid in force. 

Home address : Will Hanunond, father, Et. 1, Harvest, Ala. 

Private Hammond was evacuated to Base Hospital No. 17, 
Sept. 30, 1918, consequently his medal was not presented to him 
while in the Division. 
Bell, George, Private, Co. E, 366th Inf. (A. S. No. 2168986). Medal 
No. 437. For extraordinary heroism in action near Lesseau, 
France, 4 September 1918. 

Although he was severely wounded, Private Bell remained 
at his post and continued to fight a superior enemy force which 
had attempted to enter our lines, thereby preventing the success 
of an enemy raid in force. 

Home address : Mrs. Clara Bell, mother, Et. 2, Athens, Ala. 

Private George Bell, Co. E, 366th Inf., deceased, Sept. 16, 
1918. 



178 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL PIISTORY 

CuNCY, Will, Private 1st CL, Company F, 366th Inf. (A. S. No. 
2169151). Medal No. 438. For extraordinary heroism in action 
near Frapelle, France, 4 September 1918. 

Private Clincy showed exceptional bravery during an enemy 
raid. His teammate on an automatic rifle having been mortally 
wounded and although he was himself severely wounded, he 
continued to serve his weapon alone until the raid was driven 
back. 

Home address: John Clincy, father, 2616-6th Alley, N. 
Birmingham, Ala. 

Private 1st Class Will Clincy, Co. F, 366th Inf., was evacu- 
ated to Base Hospital (no record of number), Sept. 4, 1918, con- 
sequently his medal was not presented to him while in the Divi- 
sion. 
Young, Chakles G., First Lieut., 366th Infantry. Medal No. 931. 
For extraordinary heroism in action near Binarville, France, 
27-28 September 1918. 

Lieutenant Young, while in command of a scout platoon, 
was twice severely wounded from shell fire, but refused medical 
attention and remained with his men, helping to dress their 
wounds and to evacuate his own wounded during the entire 
night, and holding firmly his exposed position covering the right 
flank of his battalion. 

Home address; Mrs. Millie G. Young, wife, 1802 Greenlaw 
St., Austin, Texas. 
Watkins, Lewis, Private 1st Class, Co. A, 350th Machine Gun Bat- 
talion (A. S. No. 2816183). Medal No. 1139. For extraordinary 
heroism in action near Eply, France, 4 November 1918. 

Private 1st Class Watkins accompanied an infantry patrol, 
acting as gunner with a heavy machine gun. When a large party 
of the enemy had worked around the flank of the patrol and was 
advancing across a road along which the patrol was withdrawing. 
Private Watkins went into action with his gun at a range of less 
than 100 yards, although the order to withdraw had been given. 
Displaying exceptional coolness and bravery under hea\^ rifle 
and machine-gun fire, he succeeded in dispersing the enemy. He 
was the last of the patrol to retire. 



CITATIONS AND AWARDS, 92ND DIVISION 17fl 

Medal presented to above named soldier December 2, 1918, 
near Pont-a-Mousson. 
Lawbence, Jackson S., Major Medical Corps, 368th Infantry. Medal 
No. 1052. For extraordinary heroism in action at Binarville, 
France, 30 September 1918. 

Major Lawrence with tw^o soldiers voluntarily left shelter 
and crossed an open space fifty yards wide, swept by shell and 
machine-gun fire, to rescue a wounded soldier, whom they 
carried to a place of safety. 

Home address: Mrs. Florence McC. Lawrence, wife, 405 
S. 42nd St., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Medal presented to above Officer November 26, 1918, at 
Villers-en-Haye. 
Davis, Thomas H., Private 1st Class, Sanitary Detachment, 368th 
Lifantry (179930). Medal No. 1053. For extraordinary heroism 
in action at Binarville, France, 30 September 1918. 

Private Davis with an officer and another soldier voluntarily 
left shelter and crossed an open space fifty yards wide, swept by- 
shell and machine-gun fire, to rescue a wounded soldier, whom 
they carried to a place of safety. 

Home address: Mrs. Francis Davis, mother, 49 West 
Lincoln St., Hampton, Va. 

Medal presented to above named soldier November 26, 1918, 
at Villers-en-Haye. 
Handy, Edward H., Private 1st Class, Company B, 368th Infantry 
(1799754). Medal No. 1054. For extraordinary heroism in 
action at Binarville, France, 30 September 1918. 

Private Handy vnih an officer and another soldier volun- 
tarily left shelter and crossed an open space fifty yards wide, 
swept by shell and machine-gun fire, to rescue a wounded soldier, 
whom they carried to a place of safety. 

Home address: Mrs. Rosena Gibson, sister, 26271/2 Vir- 
ginia Ave., Washington, D. C. 

Medal presented to above named soldier November 26, 1918, 
at Villers-en-Haye. 
Rivers, Tom, Private, Co. G, 366th Inf. (No. 2169507). Medal No. 
1633. For extraordinary heroism in action near the Bois de la 
Voivrotte, France, 11 November 1918. 



180 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Private Rivers, although gassed, volunteered and carried 
important messages through heavy barrages to the support coro- 
panies. He refused first aid until his company was relieved 

Home address : Mrs. Cornelia Rivers, wife, R. F. D. 2, Box 
7, Opelika, Ala. 

Medal presented to above named soldier December 11, 1918, 
at Maron. 
Lewis, Beenakd, Private, Co. A, 368th Infantry. Medal No. 858. For 
extraordinary heroism in action near Binarville, Fj-ance, 30 
September 1918. 

Private Lewis, during an attack on Binarville, volunteered 
to go down the road that leads into the village, to rescue a 
wounded soldier of his company. To accomplish his mission, he 
was compelled to go under heavy machine gun and shell fire. In 
total disregard of personal danger he brought the wounded man 
safely to our lines. 

Home address: Mrs. Martha Lewis, mother, 135 E. St., 
N. W., Washington, D. C. 

Medal presented to above named soldier November 8, 1918, 
at Villers-en-Haye. 
James, Joseph, Hqrs. Co., 368th Infantry (1798927). Medal No. 1731. 
For extraordinary heroism in action near Binarville, France, 
30 September 1918. 

Private James went to the aid of a wounded companion 
under very severe machine-gun and artillery fire and brought him 
to cover. He stayed with the wounded man, giving him all 
possible aid until assistance came, when he returned to his place 
with the platoon. 

Home address: Mrs. Martha James, mother, 1622 N. Alder 
St., Philadelphia, Pa. 

Medal presented to above named soldier January 2, 1919. 
Jones, Thomas Edwaed, 1st Lieut., Med. Corps, 368th Inf. Medal 
No. 1844. For extraordinary heroism in action near Binarville, 
France, 27 September 1918. 

Lieutenant Jones went into an open area subjected to direct 
machine-gun fire to care for a wounded soldier who was being 
carried by another officer. While dressing the wounded runner 
a machine-gun bullet passed between his arms and his chest and 
a man was killed within a few yards of him. 



CITATIONS AND AWARDS, 92ND DIVISION 181 

Home address ; Mrs. Leonie Jones, wife, 509 St., N. W., 
Washington, D. C. 

Medal presented to above Officer January 2, 1919. 
Bkeckenkidge, Egbert M., Private 1st Class (Deceased), Company 
H, 365th Infantry (1967624). For extraordinary heroism in 
action at Ferme de Bel Air, France, 29 October 1918. 

Although severely wounded in the leg from shell fire, Private 
Breckenridge, an automatic rifleman, continued in action, crawled 
forward for a distance of 100 yards to a position where he 
obtained a better field of fire, and assisted preventing an enemy 
party from taking a position on the company's flank. In spite 
of his wound, Private Breckenridge continued to use his weapon 
with great courage and skill until he was killed by enemy machine 
gun fire. 

Next of kin: Amelia Wilson, mother, Boute 5, Box 95, 
Hennessey, Oklahoma. 
Pollard, Russell, Corporal, Co. H, 365th Infantry (1967745). Medal 
No. 1899. For extraordinary heroism in action at Bois Frehaut, 
France, 10 November 1918. 

During the assault at Bois Frehaut, Corporal Pollard, a 
rifle grenadier, conducted his squad skillfully in firing on hostile 
machine guns, until his rifle was broken. He then used his wire- 
cutters with speed and skill under heavy shell and machine-gun 
fire. Although wounded in his right arm, he continued to cut 
the wire with his left hand, and assisted his men in getting 
through it, until ordered to the dressing station a second time 
by his company commander. 

Home address: Caroline Pollard, mother, Weatherford, 
Texas. 
PuRSLEY, Earl, Private 1st Class, Medical Detachment, 366th Infan- 
try (2170837). Medal No. 1900. For extraordinary heroism in 
action near Lesseux, France, 4 September 1918. 

Private Pursley voluntarily carried a wounded soldier from 
an exposed position under intense enemy shell fire for a distance 
of 400 yards to dressing station. He then immediately returned 
to the position and helped to dig out men who had been buried 
by the explosion of a shell. 



182 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Home address: Earl Pursley, father, General Delirerj, 
Hickman, Ky. 

Medal presented to above named soldier 2 January 1919. 

Special Mention of OflScers and Men 

There were issued from Headquarters of the 92nd Division and 
also by the Commanding Officers of the various units of the 92nd 
Division through successive periods expressions of special com- 
mendation of various officers and soldiers. Among those which may 
be quoted are the following: 

Company M, 368th Infantry, 

Trench Brealau, 94.1-71.75, 
3 October, 1918. 
FROM: The Commanding Officer, Co. M. 368th Inf. 

TO: The Commanding Officer, 3rd Battalion. 

8V EJECT: Lt. T. M. Dent, 368th Inf. 

1. I desire to call the attention of the Battalion Commander to the work 
of First Lieutenant T. M. Dent, 368th Infantry, during the days covering the 
advance from Vienne-le-Chateau. 

2. Lieut. Dent was the only officer present with me during the greater 
part of that time and his conduct was at all times characterized by fearless- 
ness and initiative. His platoon captured a German automatic rifle which 
covered the bridge crossing the Yallee Moreau and he later on the same day, 
28th September, led his platoon to the wire in front of Trench Clotilde at 
92.5-73.5, but owing to heavy machine-gun fire from his right was unable to 
remain there or to penetrate the unbroken wire. 

3. In the event of another detail from this Company to the First Corps 
Schools, I request that this officer be given the opportunity to further increase 
his value to the service by attending said schools. 

R. H. WlLLLlMS, 

Captain, 368th Infantry, 

Headquarters 92nd Division, 
Army Post Office No. 766. 
American Expeditionary Forces. 
October 11, 1918. 
General Orders No. 27. 

1. The Commanding General desires to call the attention of the entire 
command to the excellent work and meritorious conduct of Captain R. A. 
Williamfi and First Lieutenant T. M. Dent, both of the 368th Infantry. 
During the days of the fight around Vienne-le-Chateau both of these officers 



CITATIONS AND AWARDS, 92ND DIVISION 183 

displayed courage and leadership, and their conduct should be an example 
to the other officers of the Division. 

2. The Division Commander desires to commend the conduct of Private 
Philip Estrada (1766914), Battery A, 350th Field Artillery, who at the risk 
of his own life saved Corporal Alfred Tinson (1767196), Battery B, 350th 
Field Artillery, from drowning on or about the 8th day of August, 1918. 
By Command of Major General Ballou. 

(Signed) Allen J. Greer, 

Lieut.-Colonel, General Staff, 
Chief of Staff. 

HEADQUARTERS 92nD DIVISION 

A. P. 0. 766 

28 November, 1918. 
General Orders No. 35. 

# * * 

II. PvT. Bert Walker, 367th Infantry. 

The Division Commander desires to commend in orders the meritorious 
conduct of Pvt. Bert Walker, 367th Inf. Pvt. Walker, on November 9, 1918, 
m the vicinity of Villers-sous-Preny — after it was learned that the road lead- 
ing to Villers-sous-Preny had been so heavily shelled by gas shells as to make 
it almost impassable — volunteered to assist in carrying gas masks down this 
road to organizations in position, and made several trips through this gassed 
area, helping to equip and protect against a heavy gas attack which troops 
were later subjected to. 

III. Lieut. E. B. Williams, 367th Infantry. 

The Division Commander desires to call the attention of the entire com- 
mand to the excellent work and meritorious conduct of Lieut. E. B. Williams, 
1st Battalion Gas Officer, 367th Infantry. During the action around Villers- 
sous-Preny this officer was gassed, but maintained his post until all shell- 
holes were properly covered and his entire area free from gas. Lieut. Wil- 
liams refused to rest until ordered to do so by his superior officer. 

By Command of Major General Martin. 

(Signed) Allen J, Greer, 



Colonel, General Staff, 
Chief of Staff. 



Official : 

Edw. J. Turqeon, 

Major, Infantry, U. S. A., 

Adjutant. 



18i SCOTT S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

HEADQUAETERS NINETY-SECOND DI\^SION 

American Expeditionary Forces 

29th November, 1918. 
General Orders No. 36. 

I. 2nd Lieut. Nathan 0. Goodloe, 368th Infantry. 
The Division Commander desires to call the attention of the entire com- 
mand to the excellent work and meritorious conduct of 2nd Lieutenant 
Nathan O. Goodloe, Machine Gun Company, 368th Infantry. During tlio 
operations in the Foret D'Argonne, September 26 to 29, 1918, this ofScer was 
attached to the 3rd Battalion of his regiment, and on September 28, during; 
the course of action, it became necessary to reorganize the Battalion and 
•withdraw a part of it to a secondary position, and he rendered valuable as- 
sistance. The movement was carried out under a continual machine-gun fire 
from the enemy, and Lieut. Goodloe's calm courage set an example that 
inspired confidence in his men. 

11. Wagoner Tom Brown (1725697), Hq. Det, 351st M. G. Bn. 
The Division Commander desires to commend in orders the meritorious 
conduct of Wagoner Tom Brown, 1725697, Headquarters Detachment, 351st 
Machine Gun Battalion, who, as driver with a combat wagon carrying am- 
munition to organizations going into action near Vienne-le-Chateau, in the 
Argoime Forest, on September 27, 1918, displayed marked devotion to duty, 
exceptional coolness, and great courage under fire. The ammunition was 
hauled over a shell-swept road and Wagoner Brown insisted on completing 
his work, even after his wagon and horses had been hurled into a ditch; he, 
despite a painful injury, worked faithfully until he had extricated his horses, 
and his conduct was such as to merit having it called to the attention of 
members of the Division as worthy of emulation. 
By Command of Major General Tilartin. 

(Signed) Allen J. Greer, 

Colonel, General Staff, 
Chief of Staff. 
Official : 

EdW. J. TURGBON, 

Major, Infantry, 
Adjutant. 

HEADQUARTERS NINETY-SECOND DIVISION 

American Expeditionary Forces 

1st December, 1918. 
General Orders No, 37. 

1. The Division Commander desires to commend in orders for meri- 
torious conduct in action at Bois Frehaut near Pont-^-Mousson, France, 
November 10-11, 1918, the following named officers and enlisted men: 



CITATIONS AND AWARDS, 92ND DIVISION 185 

Major E. B. Simmons, Regimental Surgeon, 365th Infantry; 

Captain John H. Allen, Machine Gun Company, 365th Infantry; 

Ist Lieut. Leon F. Stewart, 2nd Bn. Scout Officer, 365th Infantry ; 

Ist Lieut. Frank L. Drye, Company "E", 365th Infantry; 

1st Lieut. Walter Lyons, Company "G", 365th Infantry; 

1st Lieut. Bravid W. Harriss, Company "H", 365th Infantry; 

1st Lieut. Benjamin F. Ford, Company *'H", 365th Infantry; 

2nd Lieut. George L. Gaines, Company "G", 365th Infantry; 

2nd Lieut. Russell C. Atkins, Company '*H", 365th Infantry; 

Sergeant Richard W. White, 2073368, 2nd Bn. Scouts, 365th Infantry ; 

Sergeant John Simpson, 2074325, M. G. Co., 365th Infantry ; 

Sergeant Robert Townsend, 1967208, Company "E", 365th Infantry; 

Sergeant Solomon D. Colston, 2073518, Company "E", 365th Infantry; 

Sergeant Ransom Elliot, 1967307, Company "G", 365th Infantry; 

Supply Sergeant Charles Jackson, 2073816, Company "H", 365th Inf.; 

Corporal Thomas B. Coleman, 1967082, Company "E", 365th Infantry; 

Corporal Albert Taylor, 2091596, Company *'E", 365th Infantry; 

Corporal Charles Reed, 2073745, Company "G," 365th Infantry; 

Corporal James Conley, 2073730, Company "G", 365th Infantry; 

Private 1st Class Jesse Cole, 2817706, Company "G", 365th Infantry; 

Private 1st Class Earl Swanson, 1967391, Company "G", 365th Inf.; 

Private 1st Class James Hill, 2091205 (deceased), Co. "11", 365th Inf.; 

Private 1st Class Charles White, 2089235, Company "H", 365th Inf.; 

Private George Chaney, 2655690, Company "H", 365th Infantry. 

II. The Division Commander desires to commend in orders for meritori- 
ous conduct in action as specified below, the following named officers and 
enlisted men: 

During action near Frapelle, France, September 3, 1918: 

Sergeant Isaac Hill, 2169092, Company "F", 366th Infantry. 

During action near Lesseux, France, September 7, 1918: 

1st Lieut. John Q. Lindsey, Company "E", 366th Infantry. 

Ihiring action near Heminville, France, November 10-11, 1918: 

Ist Lieut. Edward W. Bates, Medical Corps, Ambulance Co. No. 368 ; 

Sergeant Werter L. Gross, 2167835, Company ''A", 366th Infantry. 

By command of Major General Martin: 

(Signed) Allen J. Greer, 



Colonel, General Staff, 
Chief of Staff. 



Official : 

EdW. J. TURGEON, 

j\Iajor, Infantry, U. S. A., 
Adjutant. 



186 ^ SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

HEADQUARTERS NINETY-SECOND DIVISION 

Army Post Office No. 766 
American Expeditionary Forces 

6th December, 1918. 
General Orders No. 38. 

I. Sergeant Rufus B. Atwood, 1974547, 325th Field Signal Battalion. 

The Division Commander desires to call the attention of the entire com- 
mand to the excellent work and meritorious conduct of Sergeant Rufus B. 
Atwood, 1974547, 325th Field Signal Battalion. On the morning of Novem- 
ber 10, 1918, while returning to the switchboard in Pont-a-Mousson, a shell 
struck the house in which the switchboard was being operated, breaking all 
the lines. Sergeant Atwood rendered valuable assistance to the officer in 
charge in reconstructing the switchboard and connecting new lines under 
heavy shell fire. When the ammunition dump began to explode in the same 
neighborhood, he remained on the job, tapping new connections. After re- 
pairs were made from the first explosion, there were two to follow which 
completely wrecked the switchboard room and tore out all the lines which 
were newly fixed. Sergeant Atwood was left alone, and he established a new 
switchboard and the same connections they had at first. The coolness with 
which he went about his work and the initiative he took in handling the situa- 
tion justifies his being mentioned in orders. 
II. Private Charles E. Boykin (Deceased), Co. "C", 325th Field Signal Bn. 

The Division Commander desires to commend in orders the meritorious 
conduct of Private Charles E. Boykin, Company C, 325th Field Signal Bat- 
talion. On the afternoon of September 26, 1918, while the 368th Infantry 
was in action in the Argonne Forest, the Regimental Commander moved for- 
ward to establish a P. C. and came upon a number of Germans, who fled to 
the woods, which were found to be alive with machine guns. The Command- 
ing Officer ordered the woods searched to the top of the hill, the officer in 
charge of the scouting called for volunteers, and Private Boykin, a telephone 
linesman, offered his services and set out with the rest of the detail. "While 
trying to flank an enemy machine gun another opened fire, killing him 
instantly. 

By command of Major General Martin: 

(Signed) Allen J, Greer^ 

Colonel, General Staff, 
Chief of Staff. 
Official : 

Edw. J. Turgeon, 
Major, Infantry, U. S. A., 
Adjutant. 



CITATIONS" AND AWARDS, 92ND DIVISION 187 

1CEAJ>QU.SATBBS 92nD DIVIBION 

A. P. 0. 786 

16 November, 1918. 
General Orders No. 32. 

I. The Commanding General wishes to call the attention of the com- 
mand to the excellent and meritorious conduct of the following officers and 
enlisted men : 

IVIajor Warner A. Ross, 365th Infantry. 

Captain William W. Green, 365th Infantry. 

Sergeant Rufus Bradley, 2073505, Company E, 365th Infantry. 

Bugler Junius Jules, 2075822, Company H, 365th Infantry. 

During the advance of November 10, 1918, in the action of Bois Frehaut, 
these officers and men displayed such exceptional bravery and coolness under 
fire as to merit commendation in orders. 

This order will be read to the command at first assembly after its receipt. 

II. The Commanding General wishes to call the attention of the com- 
mand to the excellent and meritorious conduct of the following officers and 
enlisted men of Company A, 366th Infantry: 

1st Lieutenant William H. Clark, 1st Lieutenant William Jones, Ist Ser- 
geant Eugene Love, Sergeant Gus Hicks, Sergeant Richard Parker, Sergeant 
James E. Green, Corporal John H. James, Corporal Fred Lewis, Corporal 
Ben L. Moore, Bugler Irvin Turpin, Pvt 1st CI. Fred Littlejohn, Pvt. 1st 
CL Ed Martin, Pvt. 1st CI. Riley Porter, P\i;. 1st CI. Ames Robertson, Pvt. 
1st CI. Mathew Rose, Pvt. Ist CI. Lonnie Rice, Pvt. Ist CI. Richard Wells, 
Pvt. 1st CI. Henry Williams, Private Conce Cooks, Private Willis Coles, 
Private Charles Dozier, Private Frank W. Franklin, Private Harvey Hite, 
.Private Leonard Morton, Private Clarence Leake. 

In the action near Bois de Voivrotte, France, on November 11, 1918, 
these officers displayed such excellent qualities of leadership and courage, and 
the men such heroic conduct and attention to duty under fire, as to merit 
commendation in orders. 

This order will be read to the command at first assembly after its receipt. 

By command of Major General Ballou. 

(Signed) Allen J. Greer, 

Colonel, General Staff, 
Chief of Staff. 

Official : 

EdW. J. TURGEON, 

Major, Infantry, U. S. A., 
Adjutant. 



188 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

HEADQUARTERS 372nD INFANTRY 

S. P. 179, France 
Granges, Vosges. 

December 23, 1918. 
(1383) 

FROM: The Acting Adjutant. 

TO: Captain Clarence S. Janifer, 92nd Division, American E. F., 

France. 
SUBJECT: Decoration. 

1. It is with pleasure that I inform you that you have been awarded a 
Croix de Guerre with citation in the orders of the 157th Division. The ap- 
proval of the award was received from the Personnel Section, G. H. Q., Amer- 
ican E. F., on December 14th. 

2. The citation is as follows: 

1st Lieut. Clarence 8. Janifer, M. C. Surgeon 3rd Battalion 372nd Infantry. 
'^Fearless to danger, established his First Aid Post on the battlefield in 
front of BuBsy Farm September 28, 1918, following the Battalion in the open 
fields, giving help and relief to the wounded and dying at first hand. ' ' 

Pending the receipt of the official citation from the 157th Division, this 
letter will serve as authority for the wearing of the Croix de Guerre with a 
silver star. 

(Signed) Preston F. Walsh, 

Captain Infantry, U. S, A. 
I certify that the above letter is a true copy. 

T. T. Thompson, 
1st Lt, Inf., U. S. A. 

There were many such commenaations of indi^ddual soldiers 
issued during tlie period of the stay of the 92nd Division in France. 

No officer in the 92nd Division won the respect and devotion of 
his men more completely than did Brigadier-General Malvern-Hill 
Barnum, commanding the 183rd Brigade. That General Barnum felt 
a deep attachment to his command is shown by the following letter 
addressed to the entire brigade: 

A. P. O. 714, France. 
22 December, 1918. 
From: Malvem-IIill Barnum, Brigadier-General, U. S. A. 
To: The Officers and men of the 183rd Brigade. 

Subject: Relief from command. 

The order detaching me from command of the 183rd Brigade was unex- 
pected and coming, as it did, just as the Brigade was moving, made it im- 



CITATIONS AND AWARDS, 92ND DIVISION 189 

possible for me to give expression to my regret at having to sever an asso- 
ciation of over a year and one that will be one of the pleasantest recollec- 
tions of my Army career. . 

Having organized and trained the 183rd Brigade and commanded it 
through its active service in the present war, I can speak for the willing 
compliance to all requirements that made the work very enjoyable. When 
men work with their hearts as well as their heads and hands, the best results 
are certain to follow. 

I feel that the officers and enlisted men of the Brigade may justly be 
proud of the record made and I believe that history will accord them no 
little credit. 

I trust that each one wiU do his utmost to insure to the Brigade the 
finest record possible during the remainder of its period of service. 

Finally in returning to their homes I trust that each one will take with 
him a high sense of responsibility as an American citizen and a keen desire 
to perform faithfully whatever duties fall to him in the future. 

With such a heritage from his Army service each one will not only have 
helped win the war and thus rendered a great service to humanity, but will 
himself have become the gainer through the remaining years of his life. 

(Signed) Malvern-Hill Barnum. 

This letter will be published to all members of the command at the 
earliest opportunity. 

By order of Colonel Parrott. 
Hq. 366th Infantry. (Signed) R. D. McCord, 

December 24, 1918. Capt. and Adjt., 366th Inf. 



CHAPTER Xni 

THE STORY OF "THE BUFFALOES" 

Glorious Record of the 367th Infantry Regiment — Colonel James 
A. Moss — Presentation of Colors at the Union League Club — 
The *' Buffaloes" in France— How They "Saw It Through" at 
Metz — Their Heroic Conduct Under Fire — Regimental Colors 
Decorated by Order of the French High Command — A Tribute 
From France to "These Sunburned Americans." 

Quite naturally, and with pardonable pride, all the officers and 
men of each unit of the 92nd Division regard their particular unit 
as having contributed most to the glory of that Division and to 
the record of the achievements of Negro troops upon battlefields 
overseas. However, it will probably not be disputed that the 367th 
U. S. Infantry was, in some respects, the most notable unit of the 
92nd Division. 

The 367th Regiment was organized at Camp Upton, N. Y., on 
November 3, 1917, pursuant to Order No. 105, War Department, 
1917, and Special Order No. 72, Headquarters 77th Division, 1917. 
Colonel James A. Moss, Lieutenant Colonel William G. Doane, 
Majors Charles L. Mitchell, Fred W. Bugbee and William H. Ed- 
wards were assigned to and joined the regiment, 3rd November, 
1917, per Order No. 105, War Department, 1917. 

Pursuant to telegraphic instructions from the War Depart- 
ment, 2nd November, 1917, Major Henry N. Arnold, Inf. R. C, was 
transferred to the regiment vice Major William H. Edwards, trans- 
ferred to the 306th Machine Gun Battalion. 

The Captains of the regiment (with the exception of the Regi- 
mental Adjutant, Commanding Officers' Headquarters and Supply 
Companies), also the 1st and 2nd Lieutenants, graduated from the 
Officers' Training Camp, Fort Des Moines, Iowa, were assigned 
to and joined the regiment 3rd November, 1917, per Special Order 
72, Headquarters 77th Division, 1917. 

190 



THE STORY OF "THE BUFFALOES" 191 

The Regimental Adjutant, Captain Frederic Bull; Command- 
ing Officer, Headquarters Company, Captain Benjamin F. Norris, 
and Supply Officer, Captain Charles L. Appleton, were transferred 
to the regiment 3rd November, 1917, from the 152nd Depot Brigade, 
77th Division, per Special Order No. 72, Headquarters 77th Divi- 
sion, 1917. 

The enlisted personnel of the regiment was assigned from 
selective draft men, who joined as follows: 

In November, 1917: New York, N. Y., 1,198; Camp Devens, 
M^ss., 22; Camp Custer, Mich., 301; Camp Lewis, Wash., 100. 

In December, 1917: Camp Travis, Tex., 300; Camp Pike, Ark., 
600; Camp Lee, Va., 300. 

Six enlisted men from the Regular Army were transferred to 
the regiment. 

During the period, 3rd November, 1917, to 31st December, 1917, 
the troops of the regiment were given training and instruction 
daily, Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays excepted, in the prescribed 
course of instruction for officers and men. 

The field officers, regimental adjutant, regimental supply offi- 
cer, regimental surgeon, and the commanding officers of the Head- 
quarters Company, nine in all, were white, while all the company 
officers (87), except the commander of the Headquarters Company; 
the medical officers, except the regimental surgeon; the dental sur- 
geons, and the chaplain, 97 in all, were colored officers. The 
colored officers, with the exception of the chaplain, were all grad- 
uates of the Fort Des Moines (Iowa) Officers' Training Camp. 

The enlisted men (3,699) were drafted from various parts of 
the country, quotas having come from Camp Devens, Camp Custer, 
Camp Lewis, Camp Lee, Camp Pike, Camp Travis, and about 1,500 
from New York and Brooklyn. An enlisted training cadre of 19 
men was assigned to the regiment from the 25th U. S. Infantiy. 

Being trained at Camp Upton, near New York City, the atten 
tion of the metropolitan press was focused upon this particular 
regiment, which was commanded by a Southern officer, Colonel 
James A. Moss, a West Point graduate, who was born in Louisiana. 
Colonel Moss early began to put the 367th Infantiy ''on the map" 
after the regiment was organized; first by speaking before the 
Union League Club and other important organizations in the City 



192 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

of New York, and by the formation of the 367th Infantry Welfare 
League, the object of which was to keep open the line of cjDmmnnica- 
tion with the home ties that the colored soldiers had left behind. 
Colonel Theodore Roosevelt became its Honorary President, follow- 
ing an address he made to the men of the regiment at Camp Upton, 
October 18, 1917. Colonel Roosevelt was delighted with the regi- 
mental singing and was fervent in his praise of the men. The 
officers of the League were : Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, Honorary 
President; Hon. Charles W. Anderson, First Vice-President; Dr. 
W. M. Moss, Second Vice-President; Dr. William Jay Schieffelin, 
Treasurer; Captain Walter B. Williams, Secretary; George W. 
Lattimore, Field Secretary, and Colonel James A. Moss, Com- 
mandant, 367th Infantry. 

This regiment paraded with the 77th Division through the 
streets of New York City on the occasion of the celebration of 
George Washington's birthday, February 22, 1918, and was 
acclaimed by the metropolitan press as presenting a fine soldiery 
appearance; this was especially noteworthy in view of the fact that 
nearly one-half of the men had been drafted from the far South 
and had come up from cotton plantations and fields without pre- 
vious military experience. 

Union League Club Bresents Colors 

A particularly notable incident in connection with the stay of 
the 367th Infantry at Camp Upton was the ** presentation of colors" 
by the Union League Club on Saturday, March 23, 1918. The 
Union League Club during the Civil War always stood firmly aod 
boldly for equal rights of American citizens, regardless of color. 
It decided, in 1863, to enlist Negroes of New York State in the 
Union Aniiy and within one month raised $18,000 for that pur- 
pose and in November, 1863, one thousand and twenty Negroes — a 
regiment — ^were in training on Riker's Island. There remained 
in addition six hundred men, who formed the skeleton of a second 
regiment which the club subsequently raised. These regiments 
were known during the Civil War as the Twentieth and Twenty- 
sixth U. S. Colored Troops. Later the club assisted in the recruit- 
ing of two more colored regiments. The recruiting of Negro soldiers, 
however, was not regarded with general favor. The then Governor 




Above — r.ureau of War Risk Insurance. M^t^r, ATr,v>nr^ Ain- 

Front Roiv, Left to Right— Miss V. L. Comer Atlanta Ga., Mrs F AUtonMob^^ 

Mr. W. Bernard Gardner. Philadelphia. Pa.: Mi.ss \B. Adams, Washington. D. C. . 

Miss F. M. Botteese, Washington, D.C.: Miss B Kebble Waco Tex. ^ ..j,,. 

Second Row. Left to Right— Miss C. J. Tarby Boston, Mass Miss E. M. Camoion.^n^ 

mingham. Ala.; Mrs. H. L. Johnson. Washington, D. C. Miss E. R. Ntlson, Laim i. 

J. Francis Gregory. Religious Work. 




^j,ot;e— Group of Depot Company Sergeants of the 372nd Infantry behind the lines 

BeZo:^-T?#clf Trai''n'of'°36"'?r?n?antry unloading- troops at. Bruyeres It required the 
services of 500 big- army trucks for three days and nights to transport the 92nd 
Div^s^on from Bou?bonne-les-Bains to this point in the Vosges zone. 




Aiove — Commander of Labor Battalion and Staff at Governor's Island. Capt. 

Jones was Commander of the U. S. Labor Battalion stationed at this point. 
Below — Baltimore War Camp Community Circle. Some of the beds at the War Camp 

Community Service Colored Club which is typical of many such clubs organized 

throug-hout the entire United States. 




Above^GTOup of colored woman war workers of the New Orleans Chapter of American 

BeJo^-Nelrf Sailors enjoying a few hours' •liberty" in the restrooms. American Red 
Cross Headquarters, New Orleans. 




AMERICAN 
EXPEDITIONARY FORCES 

Corps Expediiionpaires Amcricains 

IDENTITY CARD 



CARTE D'IDENTITE 



Name. 
Norn 

Rank X^^^ 

Giade 




Above, Left — Ernest P. Attwell, who did organization work amons" the coloied people for 
Food Administration. Center- — 1st Lt. Denton J. Brooks, Regimental Insurance 
Officer, 365th Infantry, who covered members of his regiment with over $29,000,000 
War Risk Insurance. Right — Clias. H. Williams, Special Investigator for Cominittee 
on Welfare of Negro troops and conditions existing' among' Negro soldiers in camps 
and war camp community centers. 

Below — Capt. Dee Jones, and sample Identification Card printed in English and French 
carried by all American soldiers of Expeditionary Forces in Europe. On each identity 
card was shown photo of its owner and a number corresponding- with metal tagr worn 
by each soldier. 



THE STORY OF "THE BUFFALOES" 193 

of New York State not only refused his authority, but withheld his 
sanction of the movement, and it became necessary for the Union 
League Club to obtain the proper authority from the War Depart- 
ment at Washington. It was not a matter of surprise, then, that 
the Union League Club decided to present a ''stand of colors" to 
the 367th Infantry that comprised so large a number of colored 
draftees from New York City and State for service in the World 
War. 

The 367th Infantry regiment was a part of the first contingent 
of the 92nd Division that sailed for overseas, leaving the port of 
embarkation at Hoboken, N. J., on June 19, 1918, and arriving at 
Brest, France, on June 29, 1918. The regiment made a notable 
record in France — the entire First Battalion of the 367th (Buffalo) 
Infantry being cited for bravery and awarded the Croix de Guerre, 
thus entitling every officer and man in the battalion to wear this 
distinguished French decoration. This citation was made by the 
French Commission because of the splendid sei-vice and bravery 
shown by this battalion in the last engagement of the war, 
Sunday and Monday, November 10 and 11, in the drive to Metz. 
This hattalion went into action through a valley commanded by 
the heavy German gums of Metz, and held the Germans at hay 
ivhile the 56th Regiment retreated, hut not until it had suffered 
a heavy loss. In the record of operations of the 92nd Division 
as a whole, the detailed statement of the glorious part played by 
the 367th Infantry (see Chapters XI and XII) will be noted. It may 
be said that this unit lived up to its regimental motto — "SEE IT 
THROUGH," 

Particular reference is made to this regiment (the 367th 
U. S. A.), not only because its splendid record at home and 
achievements overseas merits special mention, but also for the 
purpose of bringing out in bold relief the fact that it is possible 
for a white man born and bred in the South to learn to appreciate 
the real worth of the Negro soldier and, whenever placed in com- 
mand of them, to treat them as all American soldiers should be 
treated and to accord to them a full measure of respect, oppor- 
tunity, and credit. This has been notably tiiie in the case of 
Colonel James A. Moss, Conunanding Officer of the regiment, who 
enjoyed the confidence and even the affection of the men of his 



194 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

command. It will be interesting, in this connection, to read the 
tribute whicb be paid to the Negro as a soldier and military- 
officer, and which was issued as an "Introduction" to a booklet 
concerning his regiment of colored soldiers: 

STATEMENT BY 
COLONEL JAMES A. MOSS, COMMANDING 367th INFANTRY, U. S. A. 

''Having been bom and reared in the State of Louisiana, 
whose confines I did not leave until I went to West Point at the 
age of eighteen, and having served eighteen years with colored 
troops, including two campaigns, what I say about the colored 
man as a soldier is therefore based on many years' experience with 
him in civil life and in the Army — ^in peace and in war, in garrison 
and in the field. 

''If properly trained and instructed, the colored man makes 
as good a soldier as the world has ever seen. The history of the 
Negro in all of our wars, including our Indian campaigns, shows 
this. He is by nature of a happy disposition; he is responsive 
and tractable; he is very amenable to discipline; he takes pride 
in his uniform; he has faith and confidence in his leader; he pos- 
sesses physical courage — all of which are valuable military assets. 

"The secret of making an efficient soldier out of the colored 
man lies in knowing the qualities he possesses that are military 
assets, and which I have named, and then appealing to and devel- 
oping them — that is, utilizing them to the greatest extent possible, 

"Make the colored man feel that you have faith in him, and 
then, by sympathetic and conscientious training and instruction, 
help him to fit himself in a military way to vindicate that faith, 
to 'make good.' Be strict with him, but treat him fairly and justly, 
making him realize that in your dealings with him he will always 
be given a square deal. Commend him when he does well and 
punish him when he is refractory — that is to say, let him know 
that he will always get what is coming to him, whether it be reward 
or whether it be punishment. In other words, treat and handle 
the colored man as you would any other human being out of whom 
yon would make a good soldier, out of whom you would get the 
best there is in him, and you will have as good a soldier as history 
has ever known — a man who will drill well, shoot well, march well, 



THE STORY OF "THE BUFFALOES" 195 

obey well, fight well — in short, a man who will give a good account 
of himself in battle, and who will conduct and behave himself 
properly in camp, in garrison and in other places. 

*'I commanded colored troops in the Cuban campaign and in 
the Philippine campaign, and I have had some of them killed and 
wounded by my very side. At no time did they ever falter at the 
command to advance nor hesitate at the order to charge. 

"I am glad that I am to command colored soldiers in this, my 
third campaign — in the greatest war the world has ever known. 

(Signed) "Jas. A. Moss, 
''Colonel 367th Infantry." 

Colonel Moss has the reputation of being one of the best- 
known military authors in the world. He has written twenty-six 
military books, of which several have been for years regarded as 
standard. His ** Manual of Military Training" has been called 
the ''Encyclopaedia Britannica of the Army." His "OflScers' 
Manual," a guide in official and social matters, is used by prac- 
tically every young officer entering the Army. His "Privates' 
Manual" was adopted several years ago by the United States 
Marine Corps, and a copy is placed in the hands of every recruit. 
Other books of his, such as "Non-Commissioned Officers' Manual," 
"Army Paperwork," "Infantry Drill Regulations Simplified," 
"Field Service," "Riot Duty," "Company Training," and 
"Applied Minor Tactics," are also regarded as standards among 
all military men. Since his graduation from West Point in 1894 
Colonel Moss's service has been distinguished. It includes a record 
of three campaigns. In addition, he was aide-de-camp for three 
years to Lieutenant-General Henry C. Corbin, during which time, 
although only a captain in the Regular Army, he had the rank, pay, 
and allowances of lieutenant-colonel. For three years he was 
instructor at the Army Service Schools, Fort Leavenworth, 
Kansas. In 1911 and 1912 he was on special duty in the office of 
the Chief of Staff of the Army, General Leonard Wood, by whom 
he had been specially selected to reduce and simplify the adminis- 
trative work of the Army. Not only is he the father of the present 
system of Army correspondence, but he also gave to the service 
the new, simplified pay and muster rolls, and several other labor- 



196 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

saving blank forms that have done much to reduce military 
administrative work. 

Perhaps the secret underlying the splendid relations that con- 
tinually existed between this Southern white Army officer and the 
colored soldiers and officers of his command, is partly disclosed iu 
the brief biographical sketch of his military career given above, 
for, whenever a THOROUGHLY EDUCATED WHITE MAN 
meets the EDUCATED TYPE AND BETTER CLASS OF 
NEGRO MEN, like most if not all of those comprising the officer- 
group of the 367th Regiment, the difficulties connected with the so- 
called Race Problem are simplified and reduced to the minimum. 

The success of the 367th U. S. Infantry therefore strongly 
suggests (1) that whenever white men are put in command of 
Negro troops they should be of that high intellectual and moral 
caliber that will enable them to appreciate, bring forth, and develop 
the best that is in the colored men of their command; and (2) that 
Negro officers are more and more demonstrating their fitness and 
capacity to command men of their own race. 



CHAPTER XIV 

RECORD OF "THE OLD FIFTEENTH" 

The Glorious Story of the 369th United States Infcmtry, Formerly 
of the New York National Guard— The Regiment That Never 
Lost a Man Captured, a Trench, or a Foot of Ground — First 
Negro Troops to Go into Action in France. 

The first effort to organize a colored National Guard regiment 
in New York City was sponsored by Charles W. Fillmore, a colored 
citizen, who afterwards was commissioned a Captain in the "15th" 
by Col. Hayward. The effort to secure proper approval of such 
a regiment was more or less abortive until Gov. Charles S. WTiit- 
man, following the gallant fight of Negro troops of the Tenth 
Cavalry against Mexican bandits at Carrizal, authorized the project 
and named Col. William Hayward, then Public Service Commis- 
sioner, to supervise the task of recniiting an organization. It was 
found that there were more than two hundred Negro residents of 
the city who had seen service in the regular army, or in the militia 
of other states. With these as a nucleus the work of recruiting 
began on June 29, 1916. 

By the first of October, ten companies of sixty-five men each 
had been formed, and the regiment was then recognized by the 
State and given its colors. By April 8, 1917, the regiment had 
reached peace strength, with 1,378 men, and was recognized by the 
Federal Government. Two weeks later the organization was 
authorized to recruit to war strength. The 600 men needed were 
recniited in five days after the applicants had been subjected to a 
physical examination more stringent than that given in the regular 
army. The first battalion of four companies was recruited in 
Manhattan; the second battalion was composed of Brooklyn men, 
and the third of men from Manhattan and the Bronx. "There is 
no better soldier material in the world," said Col. Hayward, fol- 
lowing the organization of the regiment. "Given the proper 
training, these men will be the equal of any soldiers in the world." 

197 



198 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Col. Hayward in a personal memorandum to the author sub- 
mitted the following diary of dates in the history of the 15th New 
York, which afterwards became the 369th Infantry prior to its 
going overseas : 

''July 15, 1918, mobilized at various halls and meeting places 
where regiment was recruited and went to Camp Whitman, near 
Poughkeepsie, N. Y., for muster-in to United States service; 

''August 2, Machine Gun Company sent to Ellis Island to 
guard German spies and internes; 

"Two companies — 1st Battalion, Harrison, N. J., for guard 
duty on Jersey railroads and certain essential factories. 

"One company — 1st Battalion, guarded tunnels and bridges 
New York Central and other railroads from New York City to the 
Adirondack Mountains in small detachments; 

"One company, in and around New York City, including guard 
duty on seized German ships; 

"Second Battalion, less one company, pioneered Camp Upton. 

"Fourth company, on guard over lona Island near "West Point 
and Bear Mountain; 

"Third Battalion, pioneered Camp Dix. 

"First week in October, Eegimental Headquarters, 2nd and 
3rd Battalions, Headquarters and Supply Companies to Camp 
Wadsworth, Spartanburg. 

"October 12, assembled and secretly transported at 9 to 10 
A. M. via Fifth avenue busses and elevated railroads and on foot 
in various parts of New York City to dock at 95th street and East 
River, and transported to Hoboken. Embarked on transport 
"Hoboken." Second day at sea ship broke down and limped back 
to Hoboken. Regiment moved to Camp Merritt. 

"October 23, back to Hoboken to sail October 27. OAving to 
incomplete equipment, unable to sail and battalions stationed at 
Camp Mills, Park Avenue Armory, Van Cortlandt Park, 2nd Field 
Armory and other armories in New York City. 

"November 12, moved secretly with colors cased and drums 
forbidden to play, at 10 A. M. by train to Hoboken and marched 
through the principal street to transport "Pocahontas" at Pier 3. 
Ship on fire and regiment remained on board, sailing again 
December 3. 



RECORD OF "THE OLD FIFTEENTH" 199 

** December 4, collision at sea; 

** December 5, regiment repaired ship; 

''December 27, landed at Brest. Right side up." 

In sending the diary, Col. Hayward adds the following sig- 
nificant statement: 

*'We had no wrecks, no fires, no explosions, no escaped pris- 
oners during our tour, prior to sailing. Gen. Hoyle, Commanding 
General Easteni Department, said ours was the only regiment, 
regular or national guard, on this duty against which no complaint 
had been filed by civilians or others." 

Training the Regiment 

Training the men presented some difficulty. At first they 
were drilled in Lafayette Hall, 132nd street and Seventh avenue. 
New York City. But the place was altogether too small and many 
of the fifty squads which drilled nightly had to take to the streets 
to carry out the maneuvers of their drill sergeants. Later they 
went for three weeks to Camp Whitman. An announced plan to 
send the regiment to train at Camp Wadsworth, Spartanburg, S. C, 
caused a storm of protest from the citizens of the South Carolina 
town. 

*'The most tragic consequences," they insisted, ''would follow 
the introduction of the New York Negro with his Northern ideas 
into the community life of Spartanburg." The Spartanburg 
Chamber of Commerce drafted resolutions protesting against the 
training of Negro troops at Camp Wadsworth, which were sent to 
New York State officials. The resolutions, however, had less 
weight than the exigencies of war and, early in October, the 15th 
Negro Infantry detrained at Camp Wadsworth. The "tragic con- 
sequences" did not materialize. Certain stores refused to serve 
Negro customers and were, in turn, boycotted by the white soldiers, 
but the chief result of the Fifteenth's visit to Spartanburg was an 
increased respect in some measure, at least, for the black soldier. 

While at Spartanburg the regiment was supplied with the 
latest things in trench shoes, hesLvy underwear, and other over- 
seas supplies. This led the men to expect immediate transfer 
overseas. They were, indeed, ordered overseas, but as Colonel 
Hayward 's memorandum quoted above indicates, the regiment 



200 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

made tliree distinct starts for France before it finally got away 
from America. The accident that caused the first turning back 
occurred when still in sight of the Narrows. The vessel was dis- 
abled by a bent piston rod and had to put back to the Brooklyn 
Navy Yard for repairs. Four days later the ship put out again, 
only to halt when fire was found in the reserve coal bunker. 
Putting back to Hoboken, the sorely tried Fifteenth counted the 
hours until a new transport could be obtained. Hours became 
days, and days weeks, but still no other ship offered. 

Delayed by Storm and Collision 

Finally, on December 3, 1917, the Navy Department notified 
the transport's commander to put to sea. But while the pier 
lines were being cast off a storm started to blow up, and by the 
time the "Pocahontas" — nameless at the time — reached the outer 
bay, the greatest blizzard of the year was raging. Clouds of snow, 
through which nothing could be seen, forced the "Pocahontas" to 
drop anchor. She had hardly done so when a huge hulk, appearing 
suddenly through the murk, bore down upon the transport's bow 
and cut a ten-foot hole in her side. Then the storm abated in the 
bay, but a new one arose below decks, where 3,000-odd exasperated 
soldiers were maintaining their belief that no such place as France 
existed. The captain of -the transport was for turning back again 
to the Navy Yard. The hole was above the water-line, he admitted, 
and there was no great danger impending as a result of the 
collision, he said. Nevertheless there would be an inquiry, and it 
was necessary that he be present to state his case. 

"I can see no reason for turning back except that of fear," 
said Col. Hayward to the captain. The captain did not turn back. 
There was an ambulance assembly unit on board with electric 
drills. Ten hours, it was said, would suffice to make sufficient 
repairs to enable the vessel to proceed. The bent plates were 
drilled out and double planking erected in their place. Concrete 
was then poured between the planks. The result was not elegant, 
but the ship was water-tight and best of all, still bound for France. 

Brest was reached on December 27 without incident except for 
an epidemic of German measles which attacked the crew of the 



RECORD OF "THE OLD FIFTEENTH" 201 

transport, but which was escaped by nearly all officers and men 
of the Fifteenth. 

From Brest the regiment was transferred to St. Nazaire, 
where the troops were put to work constructing a huge railroad 
yard, building roads, and unloading ships. The fact of being in 
the country ** where the war is" helped the impatient soldiers to 
endure their lot for awhile, but before long there was a general 
feeling that ''while stevedoring may be all right, it is not war," 
and the officers were besieged with apologetic and respectful 
queries, ''When do we fight I" 

Guarding German Prisoners 

The answer was assumed to have been supplied when, early 
in January, the Third Battalion was ordered to Colquidan, in 
Brittany, where there was a big American artillery camp. It 
turned out, however, that peace was still longer to bear down 
upon the spirits of the Fifteenth. At Colquidan^ they found, as 
well as an American artillery camp, there was also a large German 
prison camp, and it was for the purpose of guarding this camp 
that their services were required. 

Three weeks passed, and then the Third Battalion received 
orders to join the rest of the regiment at Givry-en-Argonne, there 
to be formally transferred to the French high command and to be 
known as the 369th Regiment d'Infanterie Etats Unis (United 
States Infantry). Actual fighting was still afar off, it seemed to 
the soldiers, for they were put to training under French officers. 
One hundred and twenty picked men and a number of officers 
were sent to the French Divisional Training School, where they 
were taught to use the French arms, including grenades, French 
bayonets, rifles and machine guns. Upon the completion of the 
course others of the former Fifteenth were sent to take this 
training. 

They proved apt pupils. In grenade-throwing they easily out- 
did their instructors, and in bayonet work they demonstrated 
great skill. They surprised the French, also, with the manner in 
which they acquired the French language. Many of them were 
talking quite fluently after a week with their French comrades. It 
turned out, however, that many of the soldiers hailed from Louis- 



202 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

iana, and that their new environment merely had revived for- 
gotten memories of the French language. 

In May the regiment went to the Main de Massiges, a part of 
the French line which offered the greatest danger as well as the 
greatest opportunity for training in trench warfare and raiding. 
A small number of the Fifteenth's men were sent with each French 
company, with instructions to observe all regulations and 
familiarize themselves with the tactics of the French. The French 
**poilus" were delighted with their colored comrades and soon 
sought to teach them all they knew. 

After two weeks' experience obtained in the manner described, 
the 369th was sent into action in the Bois d'Hauze, Champagne, 
where the regiment, unassisted by the French, held a complete 
sector, which in length constituted 20 per cent of all territory held 
by American troops at the time. In this action, which lasted until 
July 4, 1918, when the colored soldiers, their ranks thinned by the 
deadly German fire and completely worn out, were relieved by the 
4th French Chasseurs-a-pied. 

Fighting Ability Recognized 

By this time the fighting effectiveness of the Negro troops 
from New York was recognized by the high command, and after 
resting behind the lines for a few weeks they were transferred and 
placed in the path of the expected German offensive at Minancourt, 
near Butte de Mesnil, where they bore the brunt of the German 
attacks of July 15 and thereafter. Against the enemy in this 
action the old Fifteenth was completely successful, holding against 
the German fire, repelling German attacks and by counter-attacks 
becoming possessed of the front line German trenches. 

At the end of July the regiment, after a three days' march to 
the rear, went into training for open warfare, but had hardly 
started work when a hurry call was sent to them to take over the 
same place in the line which they had left a few days before. 
Motor lorries were impressed and the New York soldiers hastened 
back to the front, arriving in time to assist in repelling the most 
violent German attacks. 

During the action which followed it was the policy of the 
French strategists to retreat from the lines then held, after having 



RECORD OF "THE OLD FIFTEENTH" 203 

*'g£issed" all the dug-outs. The advancing Germans thereupon 
were met with such heavy shell fire that they were forced into the 
underground shelters and so fell by the hundreds, victims of the 
noxious fumes released by the French. 

The men of the 369th, advancing again after this defeat of 
the enemy, found enough Mauser rifles lying beside the dead Ger- 
mans to equip an entire brigade. Finding the German Mauser to 
resemble the Springfield formerly used by the American troops and 
preferring it to the French weapon furnished them, the men of 
the Fifteenth promptly adopted the captured rifle, and it was with 
considerable difficulty that the French equipment was finally 
restored to them. 

Wins the Croix de Guerre 

Early in September the men of the 369tli were transferred 
from the 16th French Division, in which they had been serving, 
and made an integral part of the 161st French Division. And then, 
on the morning of September 26th, they joined with the Moroccans 
on the left and native French on the right in the offensive which 
won for the entire regiment the French Croix de Guerre and the 
citation of 171 individual officers and enlisted men for the Croix 
de Guerre and the Legion of Honor, for exceptional gallantry in 
action. The action began at Maison-en-Champagne ; it finished 
seven kilometers northward and eastward and over the intervening 
territory the Germans had retreated before the ferocious attacks 
of the Fifteenth and its French comrades. 

A month later a new honor came to the regiment — the honor 
of being the first unit of all the Allied armies to reach the River 
Rhine. The regiment had left its trenches at Thann, Sunday, 
November 17, and, marching as the advance guard of the 161st 
Division, Second French Army, reached Blodelsheim, on the left 
bank of the Rhine, Monday, November 18. The 369th is proud of 
this achievement. It believes also that it was under fire for a 
greater number of days than any other American regiment. Its 
historian will record; 

That the regiment never lost a man captured, a trench, or a 
foot of ground; that it was the only unit in the American Expedi- 
tionary Force which bore a State name and carried a State flag; 



204 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

that it was never in an American brigade or division; tliat it saw 
the first and the longest service of any American regiment as part 
of a foreign army; and that it had less training than any American 
unit before going into action. 

Letter from Colonel Hayward 

A highly significant letter written by Col. Hayward to the 
author shortly after the 369th reached France and went into 
training may be quoted: 

"Dear Scott: 

"Am writing this from away up on the French front where the 
'Fighting Fifteenth,' now the 369th U. S., is really fighting in a 
French Division. We are known to the French as 369 R. I. M. S. 
and our Secteur Postal is No. 54, France. 

*'I have two battalions in the trenches of the first line and the 
third in relief at rest just behind our trenches. The three rotate. 
Our boys have had their baptism of fire. They have patrolled No 
Man's Land. They have gone on raids and one of my lieutenants 
has been cited for a decoration. Of course, it is still in the experi- 
mental stage, but two questions of the gravest importance to our 
country and to your race have, in my opinion, been answered. 

* ' First : How will American Negro soldiers, including commis- 
sioned officers (of whom I still have five), get along in service with 
French soldiers and officers — as for instance a Negro regiment of 
infantry serving in a French combat division? 

''Second: Will the American Negro stand up under the terri- 
ble shell fire of this war as he has always stood under rifle fire and 
thus prove his superiority, spiritually and intellectually, to all the 
black men of Africa and Asia, who have failed under these conditions 
and whose use must be limited to attack or for shock troops? 

"We have answered the first question in a most gratifying 
way. The French soldiers have not the slightest prejudice or feel- 
ing. The poilus and my boys are great chums, eat, dance, sing, 
march and fight together in absolute accord. The French officers 
have little, if any feeling about Negro officers. What little, if any, 
is not racial but from skepticism that a colored man (judging of 
course by those they have known) can have the technical education 
necessary to make an efficient officer. However, as I write these 



RECORD OF "THE OLD FIFTEENTH" 205 

lines, Capt. Napoleon Bonaparte Marshall and Lieut. D. Lincoln 
Reed are living at the French Officers' Mess at our division Infan- 
terie School, honored guests. 

''The program I enclose gives you an idea of the way I've cul- 
tivated friendship between my boys and the poilus. You should 
have seen the 500 soldiers, French and mine, all mixed up together, 
cheering and laughing at the show arranged while the Boche shells 
(boxcar size) went screaming over our heads. 

''Now, on the second question, perhaps I am premature. But 
both my two battalions which have gone in have been under shell 
fire, serious and prolonged once, and the boys just laughed and cud- 
dled into their shelter and read old newspapers. French company 
got shelled and it was getting very warm around the rolling kitchen. 
The cooks went along about their business in absolute unconcern 
until the alarmed French soldiers ran to them and told them to beat 
it. One of the cooks said, 'Oh, that's all right, boss. They ain't 
hurting us none.' They are positively the most stoical and mys- 
terious men I've ever knowTi. Nothing surprises them. And 
we now have expert opinion. The French officers say they are 
entirely different from their own African troops and the Indian 
troops of the British, who are so excitable under shell fire. Of 
course, I have explained that my boys are public school boys, wise 
in their day and generation, no caste prejudice, accustomed to the 
terrible noises of the subway, elevated and street traffic of New 
York City (which would drive any desert man or Himalaya moun- 
taineer mad) and are all Christians. Also, that while the more igno- 
rant ones might not like to have a black cat hanging around for fear 
it would turn into a fish or something, they have no delusions about 
the Boche shells coming from any Heathen Gods. They know the 

d child-killing Germans are firing at them T\nth pyrocellulose and 

they know how the breech mechanism works. 

"I am very proud of what we've done and are doing. I put the 
whole regiment through grenade (live grenade) practice. Nasty, 
dangerous business. They did it beautifully. I found one rank 
arrant coward, who refused to throw. Said he couldn't. Another 
threw prematurely after igniting the bomb. We asked him why he 
did not wait for the command to throw (barrage). He said, 'Run- 
nel, that old grenade, she begun to swell right in my hand.' The 



206 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

boys keep writing home that the 'war is not so bad if you just go 
at it right.' Well, a very wise command somewhere, I don't know 
where, has let us go at it right. You know I've always told these 
boys I'd never send them anywhere I would not go myself, so I went 
first to the trenches, prowled around, saw it all and came back to 
the regiment to take in the battalion which was to go in first. When 
they saw me covered with mud, but safe and sound they said, 'How 
is she, Kunneir 'She's all right,' I said. They all laughed and 
then the sick and the lame of that battalion began to get well mirac- 
ulously and begged to go. Captain Clark called for twelve volun- 
teers for a raid and the company fell in to the last man — all wanted 
to go, and he had to pick his twelve after all. 

"Do you wonder that I love them, every one, good, bad and 
indifferent? 

"Personally I am well, strong, and the happiest man in the 
world. I've learned more about the military game, at least the 
fighting of this war, since I have been here with the French than I 
learned in all the years as drummer boy, private. Sergeant, Cap- 
tain, Major and Colonel Second Nebraska Infantry, Spanish War, 
Maneuvers, Officers' School, Gettysburg and Leavenworth prob- 
lems, etc., etc., and all the time I spent with my present regiment in 
the New York National Guard. 

"And another thing, I believe I know more about Negro soldiers 
and how to handle them, especially the problem of Negro and white 
officers, than any other man living today. Of course, the other regi- 
ment I commanded for three years was a white regiment, so I had 
a lot to learn, but I've learned it and I wouldn't trade back now. 

"Suppose after I've held my sector up here by blood and iron 
two or three months, some National Guard Brigadier, who has just 
arrived in France, will come along and point out all the mistakes 
I've made and tell me just how to do it. Well, 'C'est la guerre/ as 
we French say. 

"Brother Boche doesn't know who we are yet, as none of my 
men have been captured so far, and the boys wear a French blue 
uniform when they go on raids. I've been thinking if they capture 
one of my Porto Eicans (of whom I have a few) in the uniform of 
a Normandy French regiment and this black man tells them in Span- 
ish that he is an American soldier in a New York National Guard 



RECORD OF "THE OLD FIFTEENTH" 207 

regiment, it's going to give the German intelligence department a 
headache trying to figure it out. 

*'We are proud to think our boys were the first Negro American 
soldiers in the trenches. Jim Europe was certainly the first Negro 
officer in. You can imagine how important he feels I In addition 
to the personal gratification at having done well as a regiment I 
feel it has been a tremendously important experiment, when one 
considers the hosts of colored men who must come after us. I wish 
I had a brigade, yes, a division or a corps of them. We'd make his- 
tory and plant the hob-nailed boots of the 'Heavy Ethiopian Foot' 
in the Kaiser's face all right. 

*'We were so disappointed that the Secretary didn't gert up to 
see us. The town we were holding then had be<3n named by me 
*Bakerville' and it is so on our maps. 

** Regards and good wishes to you. 

''Sincerely, 

"William Hayward." 

Called "Hell Fighters" by the Enemy 

The men of the 369th came to be known among the French 
and the Germans as "Hell Fighters." The regiment participated 
in the action which followed the German offensive on the 15th of 
July, 1918, when the Germans were reinforced by released pris- 
oners from Russia, so that they then had their maximum forces. 
They had broken through the British line and disaster was at hand. 
This was east of Rheims. The Germans had also torn through 
the French at Montdidier and had gone through for 30 or 40 
kilometers. 

During the 191 days that the regiment was in the trenches 
there were weeks in that immediate sector when there was nothing 
between the German army and Paris but these black men from 
America. It was through the action of ihe men of the 3G9th in 
capturing German prisoners on the night of July 14 that the 
expected German attack was learned. When the French found 
out that the great German offensive was coming, their forces 
did not remain a thin blue line. Gen. Gouraud, who commanded 
the Fourth French Anny, took his troops out of the front line 
trenches over a front of 50 kilometers, and when the attack oc- 



208 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTOKY 

curred he had the 369th on one flank of a 50-kilonieter line and the 
old 69th New York, a part of the Rainbow Division, on the other. 
When the German fire fell on these front line trenches for five 
hours and twenty minutes, the shells fell on empty trenches except 
for a few patrols left in reinforced trenches with signal rockets, 
gas shells, and a few machine guns. When the hour for the German 
infantry attack came, these patrols let off their gas bombs and 
signal rockets and the massed allied artillery let loose on the 
massed Germans, who were literally smashed and never got 
through to the second line of the 369th. On the other end they 
did get through, crashing into the Rainbow Division and the old 
69th New York, which met them hand-to-hand in some of the most 
terrible fighting of the war. 

Individual Exploits of the 369th 

There are many outstanding exploits of the men of the 369th 
and of Col. Hayward himself. In Bellea.u Wood on June 6, 1918, 
the regiment came up to the German front lines where it met a 
very heavy counter-attack. Some one suggested that they turn 
back. ^'Turn back? I should say we won't. We are going 
through there or we don't come back," was what Colonel Hayward 
said as he tore off the eagles of his insignia, grabbed a gun from a 
soldier, and darted out ahead of the rest of Company *'K," which 
went through a barrage of German artillery that was bearing down 
upon it. A French General ordered the regiment to retire, but 
Colonel Hayward, who, of course, was under direct command oT 
this French General said: ''I do not understand you." 

Then the French General raised his arms above his head and 
cried : 

''Retire! Retire!" 

And then Colonel Hayward, with his hat knocked off, came 
running up and cried: ''My men never retire. They go forward, 
or they die!" 

A Prussian officer captured by the "Black Watch," as the 
369th was called after they had reached the Rhine, is said to have 
remarked: "We can't hold up against these men. They are 
devils! They smile while they kill and they won't be taken alive." 

The regiment was eleven times cited for braverj^ in action, and 



RECORD OF "THE OLD FIFTEENTH" 209 

Colonel Hayward himself received a citation, reading: "Colonel 
Hayward, though wounded, insisted on leading his regiment in 
battle." 

Following is the citation awarded the 369th for its courage 
and valor in the great offensive in the Champagne, September and 
October, 1918, by the French Commanding General: 

CITATION FOR CROIX d. GUERRE 



AWARDED 

369S RfiGlMENT d'lNFANTERlE U. S. 

(formerly 15''' N. Y. ini-antry) 

FOR ITS OPERATIONS AS A COMBAT UNIT OF A I-nENCH 
DIVISION IN THE GREAT OFFENSIVE IN 

CHAMPAGNE, SEPT. and OCT. 1918, 

BY THE FRENCH COMMANDING GENERAL 



Soiis le CoDtmandcment du Colonel HAYIVABD qui, lieu que hlessS, a 
term a conduire son rigiment an combat, dti Lieutenant Colonel PICKERING, 
admirable de sang-froid et de courage, du Cofiiniandant COBB (tuf), du Comman- 
dant SPENCER (grih'cment bkssi), du Commandant LITTLE viritabk entraineur 
d^hommes, le j6')' R. I. U* S. qui lors.' des attaqucs de Septembre 1918, voyait k 
feu pour la premise fois, s'cst cmpari de puissantes organisations enncwies, inergique- 

vtent difendues ct a enlevi de haute lulle le village de S , a fait- des 

prisonniers, rameni 6 canons et un grand nombre de mitrailleuses. 

tRANSLATION 

Under command of Colonel HA YIVARD, zvho, tlxnigh injured, insiued on 
leading his regiment in the battle, of Lieutenant Colonel PICKERING, admirably 
cool and brave, of Major COBB, (killed), of Major SPENCER (grievously twunded), 
of Major LITTLE, a true leader of men,- the 36^'^ R. I. U. S. engaging m an 
offensive for the first time in the^ drive of September,. i^iS, stormed powerful enemy 

positions energetically defended, look, after- heavy fighting, the town of S 

captured prisoners and brought back six cannons and a great nunJ)cr of machine guns. 

A typical story of the dare-devil courage of the men of the 
369th is afforded in the exploit of Elmer McCowin of Company 



210 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

'*K," who won the Distinguished Service Cross. He tells his own 
story as follows: ''On September 26 the Captain asked me to 
carry despatches. The Germans pumped machine-gun bullets at 
me all the way. But I made the trip and back safely. Then I was 
sent out again. As I started with the message the Captain yelled 
to bring him back a can of coffee. He was joking, but I didn't 
know it at the time. 

** Being a foot messenger, I had some time ducking those 
German bullets. Those bullets seemed very sociable, but I didn't 
care to meet up with them, so I kept right on traveling on high 
gear. None touched my skin, though some skinned pretty close. 

*'0n the way back it seemed the whole war was turned on me. 
One bullet passed through my trousers and it made me hop, step, 
and jump pretty lively. I saw a shell hole six feet deep. Take it 
from me, I dented another six feet when I plunged into it hard. 
In my fist I held the Captain's can of coffee. 

''When I climbed out of the shell hole and started running 
again, a bullet clipped a hole in the can and the coffee started to 
spill. But I turned around, stopped a second, looked the Kaiser 
in the face, and held up the can of coffee with my finger plugging 
up the hole to show the Germans they were fooled. Just then 
another bullet hit the can and another finger had to act as a 
stopgap. 

"It must have been good luck that saved my life, because 
bullets were picking at my clothes and so many hit the can that 
at the end all my fingers were hugging it to keep the coffee in. 
I jumped into shell holes, wriggled along the ground, and got back 
safely. And what do you think? When I got back into our own 
trenches I stumbled and spilled the coffee!" 

Not only did Lieut. George Miller, Battalion Adjutant, confirm 
the story, but he added about Private McCowin: "When that 
soldier came back with the coffee his clothes were riddled with 
bullets. Yet half an hour later he went back into No-Man 's-Land 
and brought back a number of wounded until he was badly gassed. 
Even then he refused to go to the rear and went out again for a 
wounded soldier. All this under fire. That's the reason he got 
the D. S. C." 

Corporal Elmer Earl, also of Company "K," living at Middle- 



RECORD OF "THE OLD FIFTEENTH" 2U 

town, New York, also won the Distinguished Service Cross. He 
explained; ''We had taken a hill September 26 in the Argonne. 
We came to the edge of a swamp, when enemy machine guns 
opened fire. It was so bad that of the fifty-eight of us who went 
into a particular strip, only eight came out without being killed 
or wounded. I made a number of trips out there and brought back 
about a dozen w^ounded men." 

How Sergeant Butler Won the D. S. C. 

On authority of General Pershing, Colonel Hayward himself 
presented the Distinguished Service Crosses to the heroes among 
bis regiment. Then, from the hands of General CoUardet, of the 
French Army, he received the medal of the Legion of Honor. But 
even among this list of distinguished heroes those who knew of the 
exploits of Sergeant ''Bill" Butler insisted upon calling for him 
and making him the object of their attentions. 

It was on the night of August 12, 1918, while the fighting 
was raging in the Champagne District, that Sergeant Butler's 
opportunity came to him. A German raiding party had rushed 
the American trenches and, after firing a few shots and making 
murderous use of the short trench knives and clubs carried for 
such encounters, had captured five privates and a lieutenant. The 
victorious raiders were making their way back to their own 
trenches when Butler, occupying a lone position in a forward post, 
saw that it would be necessary for the party to pass him. 

The Negro sergeant waited until the Germans were close to 
his post, then opened fire upon them with his automatic rifle. He 
kept the stream of lead upon the raiders until ten of their number 
had been killed. Then he went forth and took the German lieu- 
tenant, who was slightly wounded, a prisoner, released the Amer- 
ican lieutenant and five other prisoners, and returned to the 
American lines with his prisoner and the rescued party. 

Under the heading, "Trenton Has Nothing on Salisbury,** 
The Afro-American of Baltimore said: "Trenton, New Jersey, may 
have her Needham Roberts, but it takes Salisbury, Maryland, to 
produce a William Butler. Roberts had his comrade, Henry John- 
son, to help him in repulsing a raiding party of Germans, but 
Butler took care of a Gennan lieutenant and squad of Boches all 



212 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

by himself. Herbert Corey, a white newspaper correspondent, in 
telling of the incident said that Butler came 'a-roaring and fogging' 
through the darkness with his automatic, and 'nobody knows how 
many Germans he killed.' It was for this that General Pershing 
awarded him the Distinguished Service Cross recently and the 
citation read: 'Sergt. William Butler, Company L, 369th Infantry 
(A. S. No. 104464). For extraordinary heroism in action near 
Maison de Champagne, France, August 18, 1918. Sergeant Butler 
broke up a German raiding party which had succeeded in entering 
our trenches and capturing some of our men. With an automatic 
rifle he killed four of the raiding party and captured or put to 
flight the remainder of the invaders. Home address, Mrs. Jennie 
Butler, Water Street, Salisbury, Maryland.' 

*'The rest of the State of Maryland and the whole United 
States now has its hat off to Butler of Salisbury." 

And the New York Tribune, on April 28, 1919, said: '' 'BilP 
Butler, a slight, good-natured colored youth, who until two years 
ago was a jack-of-all-trades in a little Maryland town, yesterday 
came into his own as a hero among heroes. More than 5,000 
men and women arose to their feet in City College stadium and 
cheered themselves hoarse while representatives of two Govern- 
ments pinned their highest medals upon the breast of the nervous 
youth. Sergeant Butler was one of a list of twenty-three members 
of the famous 15th Regiment upon whom both France and the 
United States conferred medals of honor because of extraordinary 
heroism on European battlefields. But by common consent his 
name comes first on the list — a list that was made up only after a 
careful comparison of the deeds of gallantry that finally resulted 
in the breaking of the Hun lines." 

Won the Cheers of the French 

Of the 369th it may be stated that although the Germans never 
captured a single man, they killed nearly 200 of them and wounded 
more than 800 others, but on the other side of the score were to be 
found more than 400 Germans captured by the Third Battalion of 
the 369th alone, and countless men of the enemy killed and wounded. 

It proved itself to be one of the most efficient military units 
of all the Allied forces. The officers and men were constantly 



RECORD OF 'THE OLD FIFTEENTH" 2i:i 

cheered by the gratitude of the French, who never failed to place 
in evidence their appreciation for the wonderful fighting prowess 
of the men of the 369th. The French were amazed not only at the 
proficiency of the men as soldiers but at their proficiency in laying 
railroad tracks, which was the first duty assigned them near one 
of the larger French ports. The 369th laid many stretches of 
track, pushed them into alignment, gave twists to the bolts, and 
proceeded half a mile farther down to repeat the performance. 
''Magnifique!" exclaimed a party of French officers who watched 
them do the work. 

The story of the wanderings of **the old 15th," of its hard 
fighting in France, of its returning to America, and of the trium- 
phant procession through the streets of New York City, down Fifth 
Avenue, is one of the proudest possessions of the Negro race and 
of American arms. 

Five colored officers went over with the 369th Regiment. 
These officers were afterwards transferred to the 92nd Division. 
Considerable criticism followed the transfer of these colored offi- 
cers from a colored regiment which had won such renown as the 
369th. Col. Hayward, however, gave the following as reason for 
the transfer: 

^'In August, 1918, the American Expeditionary Force adopted 
the policy of having either all white or all colored officers with 
Negro regiments, and so ours were shifted away (though Lieut. 
Europe later was returned to us as bandmaster, whereas he had 
been in the machine g-un force before). Our colored officers were 
in the July fighting and did good work, and I felt then and feel 
now, that if colored officers are available and capable, they, and 
not white officers, should command colored troops. I hope, if the 
Fifteenth is reconstructed, as it should be, colored men will have 
the active work of officering it, from top to bottom. 

"There is splendid material there. I sent away forty-two 
sergeants in France who were commissioned officers in other units. 
I would have sent others, but they declared they'd rather be 
sergeants in the Fifteenth than lieutenants or captains in other 
regiments." 



CHAPTER XV 

*'THE EIGHTH ILLINOIS" 

Story of the 370th U. S. Infantry — Another Negro National Guard 
Regiment That Won Distinction on the Battlefield — Chicago's 
Colored Fighters — Called ''Black Devils" by the Germans and 
'' Partridges'' by the French Because of Their Proud Bear- 
ing — First American Troops to March into the Fortified City 
of Laon — Their Stubborn Resistance at the Oise-Aisne Canal. 

The Eighth Illinois National Guard Eegiment, which during 
the great war came to be known as the 370th U. S. Infantry, was 
the only regiment in the entire United States Army that was called 
into service with almost a complete complement of colored officers 
from the highest rank of Colonel to the lowest rank of Corporal. 
Having been brigaded with French troops and given every oppor- 
tunity to get into the thickest of the fray and to demonstrate their 
bravery, ability, and solidarity as fighting men, the brilliant record 
made by this regiment effectually served to answer the question 
as to whether colored soldiers would follow colored officers into 
battle. 

Below will be found the record of events of the 370th U. S. 
Infantry (formerly 8th Illinois Infantry) from July 25, 1917, the 
date of responding to the call of the President, to March 11, 1919, 
the date of demobilization of the regiment. 

Pursuant to the call of the President, dated July 3, 1917, the 
regiment reported at the various rendezvous on July 25, 1917, as 
follows : 

At Chicago, Illinois — Headquarters, Headquarters Company, 
Machine Gun Company, Supply Company, Detachment Medical 
Department, and Companies A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H. 

At Springfield, Illinois — Company I. 

At Peoria, Illinois — Company K. 

At Danville, Illinois — Company L. 

At Metropolis, Illinois — Company M. 

214 



"THE EIGHTH ILLINOIS" 215 

On the date of responding to tlie call, tlio Field and Staff was 
as follows; 

Colonel Franklin A. Denison, commanding the regiment. 

Lt. Col. James H. Johnson, duty with the regiment. 

]\fajor Rufus M. Stokes, commanding the 1st Battalion. 

Major Charles L. Hunt, commanding the 2nd Battalion. 

lilajor Otis B. Duncan, commanding the 3rd Battalion. 

Captain John HL Patton, Regimental Adjutant. 

On August 18, 1917, Company G proceeded to Camp Logan, 
Houston, Texas, for the purpose of preparing camp for the arrival 
of the remainder of the regiment. This company was present at 
Camp Logan during the riot in Houston which involved certain 
colored soldiers of the 24th Infantry, U. S. A., in the latter part 
of August, 1917, and was commended by the public, the press, and 
military authorities for its conduct and general bearing. 

At the end of October, 1917, on the date of the closing of the 
Second Liberty Loan campaign, out of a total of 2,1G6 officers and 
enlisted men, belonging to the regiment at that time, 1,482 officers 
and men subscribed $151,400.00 to the Second Liberty Loan. Ap- 
proximately 96 per cent of the regiment took out $10,000.00 War 
Risk Insurance. 

There was some question in military circles as to whether or 
not this regiment should be sent overseas, to meet the Huns with 
its colored Colonel and a full complement of colored officers; but 
the splendid way in which Colonel Denison had handled his men 
and maintained discipline at Camp Logan, and at Camp Stuart 
(Newport News, Virginia), proved to the War Department that he 
was every inch a man, that he was an intelligent and experienced 
soldier, and a competent officer who knew how to command and to 
guard the interests of his regiment. It is especially pertinent to 
refer to the discussion as to whether this regiment should be sent 
overseas with a colored commanding officer and its entire colored 
officers' personnel, because, at that time. Colonel Charles Young, 
the veteran colored officer, a graduate of West Point, who had 
given the best years of his life to the United States Regular Army, 
had been retired from active duty on the strength of a report 
submitted by a Medical Board of Examiners, before which he was 
called, and who decided that he was physically disqualified to 



216 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTOKY 

lead a regiment of colored soldiers on the battlefields of France. 
Such service was not only Colonel Young's fervent desire, but it 
was the equally fervent hope of colored Americans that he would 
be permitted to do so. 

The morale of the colored people was, therefore, very much de- 
pressed by the retirement of Colonel Charles Young over his earnest 
protest and the protest of his legion of friends. Negro newspapers, 
reflecting the sentiment and desire of the Negro people, urged that he 
be not only retained and actively utilized as an officer of the National 
Army, but that he be given what they believed to be his rightful re- 
ward — namely, promotion in rank to at least that of a Brigadier- 
General. The futility of these requests and protests, and the failure 
of repeated efforts to have the findings of the Medical Board which 
passed upon Colonel Young's case reviewed, and set aside, so that he 
could be placed in active command of a Negro regimental unit, gave 
rise to suspicions of unfair play and disturbed the morale of colored 
Americans generally. For another colored Colonel to be denied 
active service would have further dampened the morale of the 
colored people, especially in view of the openly expressed feeling 
on their part that the highest ranking Negro officer in the United 
States Beg-ular Army had been unjustly denied active service in 
the world's greatest war and had been likewise deprived of pro- 
motion to the next rank above him — that of Brigadier-General — 
which he would have automatically received upon being called to 
active duty. 

Colonel Denison, however, proceeded overseas with his regi- 
ment, which v/as the first American regiment to set foot upon the 
soil of Alsace-Lorraine — territory that had for nearly fifty years 
been wrongfully held under German domination. 

Equipped with French Arms 

After about six weeks' training under French instructors, the 
regiment was considered sufficiently trained to go into the lines, and 
on June 12 and 13, 1918, pursuant to Ordre Particulier No. 30, 
Headquarters 10th Division, French Army, dated June 11, 1918, 
the regiment marched to Morvillars (Haut-Ehin), entrained and 
proceeded to Ligny-en-Barrois (Meuse), detrained and marched to 
stations as follows: Headquarters, Headquarters Company, Sup- 



"THE EIGHTH ILLINOIS" 217 

ply Company, and the 1st Battalion at Nancois-le-Petit (Mouse) ; 
the 2nd Battalion and Company K (Depot Company) at Trouville 
(Mouse); the 3rd Battalion at Velaines (Mouse). 

The French instructors referred to were needed in view of 
the fact that the men of the 370th Infantry, when they arrived at 
Grandvillars, were relieved of all of their American equipment, 
with which they had been trained at home, and were re-equipped 
with French arms and equipment exclusively, including French 
rifles, pistols, helmets, machine guns, horses, wagons, and even 
French rations, which consisted of food sufficient for about two 
meals per day, while the American ration had provided for three 
meals per day. But in spite of difficulties arising from difference 
in languages, the issuing of French arms, ammunition and other 
equipment, and the French ration, which Avas considered insufficient, 
the regiment made rapid progress. 

In the St. Mihiel Sector 

On June 21, 1918, the regiment began occupying a sub-sector, 
Han-Bislee, St. Mihiel sector. This being the first time the regi- 
ment had occupied positions in the line, it was deemed advisable 
by the Division Commander to intermingle the 370th with French 
troops, in order that officers and men might observe and profit 
by close association with veteran French troops. Thus, the 1st 
and 2nd Battalions, commanded by Majors Rufus M. Stokes and 
Charles L. Hunt respectively, were intermingled with platoons and 
companies of the French battalions. Except for occasional shell- 
ing and rifle and machine gun fire of the enemy, nothing of interest 
occurred while in the sector, and there were no casualties. 

On the night of July 3-4, 1918, the regiment was withdrawn 
from the St. Mihiel sector, marched to Loxeville, and entrained 
for the Argonne Forest. Various positions were occupied in tho 
Argonne until August 16, 1918. The particular sector occupied by 
the 370th Infantry was exceptionally quiet at that time, except on 
one or two occasions. In this position the regiment suffered its 
first casualty, namely. Private Robert E. Lee of Cliicago, Company 
E, Machine Gun Company No. 2. It is highly encouraging to note 
the fact that General Mittlehauser, the French general in command 



218 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

of the entire division, although burdened with important official 
duties, found time to attend in person the funeral of this brave 
Negro soldier, who was buried with every military honor. 

While in this sector, a portion of the regiment engaged in 
its first offensive encounter with the enemy. The Stokes mortar 
platoon, under the command of First Lieutenant Robert A. "Ward, 
took part in a ''coup de main" (raid), on August 4, 1918, having 
as its mission the filling-in of the gaps in the French artillery bar- 
rage. For his work during this raid Lieutenant Ward and his 
platoon were highly commended by General Mittlehauser. 

On August 16, 1918, the 370th was relieved from its position 
in the Argonne Forest and sent for rest behind the lines near 
Bar-le-Duc. On September 1, the regiment again began to move 
toward the front lines, and by easy stages, proceeded to positions 
in the Soissons sector. On September 16 Companies G, H, I, and L 
were pushed forward to positions in front of Mont des Signes, 
and from that date to September 21 took part in the various bat- 
tles and engagements incident to the capture of this exceptionally 
strong enemy position. 

One platoon of Company F, under command of Sergeant 
Matthew Jenkins, especially distinguished itself by capturing a 
large section of the enemy works, turning their own guns on them 
and holding the position for thirty-six hours without food or 
water, until assistance came and the position was strengthened. 
For this meritorious work in this engagement Sergeant Jenkins 
received both the American Distinguished Service Cross and the 
French Croix de Guerre. 

Company F was relieved on September 21, spending the night 
at Antioche Farm and proceeding to Mont des Tombes (Aisne) the 
following day and taking position in reserve; Company G was 
relieved on September 21, 1918, and proceeded to the caves near 
Les Tueries (Aisne) ; Companies I and L were relieved on Sep- 
tember 22, 1918, and proceeded to Antioche Farm and Tincelle Farm, 
respectively, and placed in reserve. From September 19 to 21, 
the organizations not engaged in the front lines were employed 
in constructing defensive works between Antioche Farm and 
Vauxaillon. 



''THE EIGHTH ILLINOIS" 219 

Takes Over a Full Sector 

Prior to September 21, the regiment had never occupied a full 
regimental sector, the companies and battalions having been there- 
tofore attached to various French units of the 59th Division. Pur- 
suant to Order 187/S, Headquarters 59th Division, French Army, 
dated September 21, the regiment for the first time took over a full 
regimental sector. The 1st Battalion relieved the Battalion Gar- 
nier of the 325th Regiment of Infantry, French Army, in the posi- 
tions outlined by La Folie-1 'Ecluse on the Oise-Aisne Canal and 
the Farm Guilliminet. The 2nd Battalion went into the support 
position at Mont des Tombes and Les Tueries, and the slopes 
west of Antioche Farm. The 3rd Battalion went into reserve at 
Tincelle Farm. The Headquarters Company was stationed at 
Levilly and the Supply Company at Monte Couve. 

On September 25 Company K (Depot Company) changed sta- 
tion from Duvy (Aisne) to Resson le Long (Aisne). On the night 
of September 26-27 the 2nd Battalion, commanded by Captain John 
H. Patton, was ordered to relieve with like units one-half of each 
of the companies of the 1st Battalion in the lines. The relief was 
completed about 2:00 a. m. An attack along the Oise-Aisne Canal 
was ordered at dawn on September 27, 1918, By extreme effort 
the remainder of the 2nd Battalion was brought up to the front, 
relieved the remainder of the 1st Battalion, commanded by Major 
Rufus M. Stokes, and the attack began as ordered. The attack 
continued from the morning of September 27 until October 4. 
The 2nd Battalion was relieved by the 1st Battalion after having 
gained possession of the railroad track and woods to the northeast 
of Guilliminet Farm. 

On September 30 the 3rd Battalion, commanded by Lieut. 
Colonel 0. B. Duncan, was ordered to make an attack with the 
Ferme de la Riviere as the principal objective, and about 3 :00 p. m. 
on that date the attack began. The fighting in front of the Bois de 
Mortier, which woods the enemy held strongly, continued and it 
was not until October 4 that it was certain that the enemy had 
been driven across the canal. 

From the 27th of September to the 4th of October the 370th 
was subjected to severe shelling and to murderous fire of numerous 
machine guns and rifles. After the 2nd Battalion was relieved by 



220 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

the 1st Battalion on October 17, Company G of the 2nd Battalion 
supported the 1st Battalion until October 3, 1918. During this 
time patrols from the 2nd and 3rd Battalions were out between the 
lines night and day, making effort to locate machine-gun nests in 
the Bois de Mortier and making other necessary reconnaissances. 

On October 4, just before dawn, a reconnaissance in the Bois 
de Mortier was ordered. As the enemy strongly held the woods, 
a patrol consisting of volunteers was ordered to make the recon- 
naissance. Captain Chester Sanders and the necessary 20 men 
readily volunteered and at 3:30 a. m. crossed the canal and pene- 
trated into the woods about 50 meters east of the Vauxaillon-Bois 
de Mortier Road, more than a hundred m.eters within the enemy 
lines. When reaching this point they were discovered by the 
enemy and were fired on by numerous machine guns. The mission 
of the patrol being to discover whether the woods had been aban- 
doned by the enemy, the patrol retired to the French lines under 
heavy machine gun fire and shelling without the loss of a man. 

October 4, 1918, pursuant to Order No. 330/S, Headquarters 
59th Division, French Army, the 1st Battalion was ordered to 
make the following dispositions: Company A sent to the 325th 
Regiment of Infantry, French Army ; Company B sent to the 232nd 
Regiment of Infantry, French Army. These companies to be used 
as reinforcements for those regiments. October 6, 1918, General 
Vincendon, commanding the division, went on leave and General 
Rondeau assumed command. 

October 7, 1918, at 4:30 a. m., after five minutes' violent bom- 
bardment by the French artillery, three raiding parties started 
into the triangle formed by the Oise-Aisne Canal, the railroad, and 
the Vauxaillon-Bois de Mortier road. The mission of these raid- 
ing parties was to capture prisoners. One of these parties undei 
command of 1st Lieutenant Elisha C. Lane entered the triangle, 
gained the trenches along the south bank of the canal and ejected 
the enemy after a hand-grenade fight, Lieut. Lane and two enlisted 
men being wounded. This party was unable to hold this trench 
on account of its being exposed to enfilade fire from two directions. 
The other two patrols established themselves along the railroad and 
sent small patrols into the triangle, but were unable to establish 
themselves therein. No prisoners were captured. 



"THE EIGHTH ILLINOIS" 221 

During the night of October 7-8 Company C of the 1st Bat- 
talion relieved Company F of the 2nd Battalion in the lines near 
PEcluse. Company C continued the effort made by Company F 
to establish themselves in the above mentioned triangle, but were 
unable to do so for the same reasons that prevented Company F 
from remaining therein. On October 10 the remainder of the 1st 
Battalion moved up into the front lines, relieving the rest of the 
2nd Battalion, and the units of the 3rd Battalion in the lines along 
the Oise-Aisne Canal in front of the Bois de Mortier. The 2nd 
Battalion went into reserve at Antioche Farm and the 3rd Bat- 
talion went into division reserve at Mont des Tombes. 

Pushing the Enemy Back 

A general advance having been foreseen, Order No. 1978/3 of 
the Division provided that after the objective, the Laon-La Ferre 
Railroad, was reached, the Division would be relieved by the 33rd 
Division, French Army, and sent into the reseiTe for rest. T)ie 
alarm for the advance was given at 9:40 a. m., on October 12, 
and the various units of the regiment proceeded to the Zones of 
Assembly previously assigned. The 1st Battalion was given the 
mission of clearing the Bois de Mortier. The 2nd Battalion was 
placed at the disposition of Lieut.-Colonel Lugand of the 232nd 
Infantry, French Army. Company F and one section of Company 
E (Machine Gun Company No. 2), were detached from the 2nd 
Battalion and sent to join the Battalion Garnier of the 325th 
Regiment of Infantry, which had as its mission the mopping up of 
the hills and woods from near Anizy-le-Chateau to a point near 
Crepy. One company of the 325th Regiment of Infantry, French 
Army, was attached to the 2nd Battalion to replace Company F. 
The 3rd Battalion was assigned as reserve of the division, the 
command of which was assigned to Colonel T. A. Roberts. 

Soon after the alert was given, the pursuit began. The 1st 
Battalion advanced through the Bois de Mortier and successfully 
reached the first objective, Penancourt, on the same date. The 2nd 
Battalion began the pursuit on the morning of October 13, having 
been assigned as the support battalion of the 232nd Infantry, and 
passed Anizy-le-Chateau, the Farm Fontenille, Tervanne, Ces- 
sieres, and Butte de Sevresis, and bivouacked at dark with the head 



222 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

of the battalion resting at the north edge of the Bois d'Oiry and 
the rear on the National Koad. 

On October 13 the 1st Battalion continued the pursuit via 
Cessieres to a point to the west of Molinchart. The 3rd Battalion 
rested in the Bois de Mortier the night of October 12, and next 
day went to Manneux Farm. For the work done in this general 
advance, the 1st and 2nd Battalions were complimented by the 
Commanding General — the 1st for its passage of the exceedingly 
strong position in the Bois de Mortier, and the 2nd for a well- 
conducted march in pursuit via Anizy-le-Chateau. 

The regimental P. C. moved up to Cessieres and late in the 
night of October 13 the division was ordered into rest for twelve 
days. The first ten days were spent in hard work on the roads, 
but the last two were given over to the issue of badly needed 
clothing and equipment. These twelve days found the regiment at 
the following places: Regimental Headquarters at Susy; 1st and 
2nd Battalions in the St. Gobain Forest near Le Cateau; the 3rd 
Battalion at Manneux Farm. By Order No. 4442, Headquarters 59th 
Division, French Army, dated October 16, 1918, the General Com- 
manding the division thanked the Colonel of the 370th Infantry 
for the good work done by the regiment in aiding the Engineers 
in the repair of roads and the cleaning of villages in the devastated 
districts. 

On October 19, 1918, Major Rufus M. Stokes was relieved from 
command of the 1st Battalion and Captain John T. Prout assigned 
to command the battalion. Major Stokes being assigned to the 
Supply Company as administrative officer. 

On October 27 the regiment was again ordered into the lines, 
and pursuant to Ordre de Mouvement No. 30, I. D. 59th Division, 
French Army, the 2nd Battalion during the night of October 27 
proceeded to Farms d'Allemagne and de Cordeau. On the follow- 
ing night, October 28, the 2nd Battalion proceeded to a position in 
support to the northeast of Grandloup, remaining in various 
positions near Grandloup until November 5. Except occasional 
shelling and some machine gun fire on the support positions, noth- 
ing of interest occurred to the 2nd Battalion while in position 
near Grandloup. 

On October 29 fla& 1st Battalion left camp in the St. Gobain 



''THE EIGHTH ILLINOIS" 223 

Forest and proceeded to Chambry, rested for tlie night, and on the 
following day, October 30, moved up into the support position about 
one kilometer to the northwest of Grandloup. On November 1 
Regimental Headquarters moved up to Chambry. 

On November 2 the 1st Battalion was moved to new positions 
with a view to the defense of Grandloup in case of enemy attack, 
Companies B and C taking position in the open trenches to the 
southwest of Grandloup and Company A to the southeast of the 
village. On November 3, an enemy shell struck in the mess line 
of Company A, at the Farm Chantrud, killing 35 men and wounding 
41, making it necessary to withdraw this company from the lines. 
On November 4, Company C of the 1st Battalion relieved a com- 
pany of the 325th Regiment of Infantry in the front lines in the 
vicinity of Brazicourt Fann. The positions of the 1st and 2nd 
Battalions received severe intermittent shelling while in these posi- 
tions. 

Further Pursuit of the Enemy 

On November 5, the enemy began again to retreat and the 
pursuit recommenced and continued until November 11, 1918, the 
date of the signing of the aiTaistice. 

On November 5 the 2nd Battalion, commanded by Capt. John 
H. Patton, moved out in pursuit of the enemy via Farm Att^n- 
court, Autremontcourt, and bivouacked in the woods north of 
Ernecourt Fann for the night. The position was shelled inter- 
mittently during the entire night. At 6:00 a. m. the following day, 
in a heavy rain, the pursuit was again taken up, the battalion pro- 
ceeding to the Farm Bellimont, arriving at about 11:00 p. m., and 
resting until 6:00 a. m. the following morning, November 7, at 
which time the battalion moved out and proceeded to Longue Rue 
de Bas, arriving about 9 :30 p. m. At 3 :30 a. m. the battalion pro- 
ceeded to Beaume, arriving at 5:30 a. m., and reporting to Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Lugand, 232nd (French) Regiment of Infantry. 
An attack was ordered at 6:30 a. m. by the division. The 2nd 
Battalion occupied a position on the left of the division with the 
68th Regiment of Infantry on the left. At 6 :30 a. m. the battalion 
moved out to the attack. The first operation, crossing the River 
Thon, was successfully accomplished, and the battalion continued 
the attack eastward towards Aubenton for about one and one-half 



224 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

kilometers, pushing tlie enemy back as it went. The enemy, fighting 
a rearguard action, had located numerous machine guns to the south 
of Leuze and along the heights stretching in the direction of Auben- 
ton. The 68th (French) Regiment of Infantry, on the left, did 
not advance as anticipated, thus exposing Company H to an 
enfilade fire from machine guns located to the south of Leuze, 
and the company suffered severely. About 11 :40 a. m. the advance 
was ordered stopped and preparation made for another attack, 
which began at 2:00 p. m. and continued until dark, at which time 
the battalion had reached its objective, the Hirson-Mezieres Rail- 
road. Casualties during the day, 4 killed and 2 officers and 33 
enlisted men wounded. On the morning of November 9 the advance 
began again and the battalion continued the pursuit until dark, 
when it occupied positions from Goncelin, the advance outpost, to 
the woods northeast of Tarzy. On November 10 the battalion re- 
ceived orders to continue the pursuit with La Verte Place, Bel- 
gium, as the objective. 

The French military officials, as will be seen by the official 
communication which follows, always called the battalion by the 
name of the battalion commander. Thus the 2nd Battalion, just 
referred to, commanded by Capt. John H. Patton of Chicago, 
Illinois, was termed "the Battalion Patton." 

232nd regiment d'infantrie 
(Translated) 
FEOM: Lieut. Colonel Lugand. 
TO: Captain John H. Patton. November 7, 1918. 

1. ORDER OF OPERATIONS FOR THE JOURNEY OF THE 8TH. 
In the morning of the 8th, the 59th Division will attack as follows : 

First Operation: Passage of the River Thon, occupation by the ad- 
vanced lines of the line Bas-Val-la-Canre to LaHayette. 

2. The 6th Battalion of the 232nd Infantry and the Battalion Patton 
will turn off at Anbenton towards the Northwest. The 325th Infantry will 
occupy Anbenton. On the left the 68th Infantry wiU attack Leuze. 

3. Axis of the march of the 232nd Infantry Le Four a Chaux, Hill 
246, Fligny. 

4. Limit of the left of Battalion Patton, Bas-Yal-la-Caure, Lisiere, 
south of Mattin Rieux. 

5. Formation — 

On, the right the 6th Battalion of the 232nd Infantry will form an 



"THE EIGHTH HXINOIS" 225 

advance guard "in echelon" in rear of the left of the Battalion Patton, 
having two companies in the first line, one company in the second line. The 
company on the right of the first line will march on the "axis of the 
march" of the regiment, so as to be 600 meters from the company on the 
left of the 6th Battalion. Battalion Patton will attack on the left of the 
232nd each time the enemy resists during the forward movement. 

6. The movement will commence at 6:30 a. m. 

7. Battalion Patton will maintain "liaison" (keep in touch) with the 
6th Battalion on his right and with the 68th Infantry on his left. 

8. The Command Post of the Colonel will be at Beaume. 

(Signed) Luqand. 

On November 6 the 1st Battalion received orders to take up 
the pursuit in support of the Battalion Michel of the 325th Regi- 
ment of Infantry, and proceeded to Hill 150, near St. Pierremont, 
via Brazicourt, Vesles-et-Caumont, Rapiere. The Battalion P. C. 
was stationed on the road to Marie and this road was shelled in- 
termittently during the night. On November 7 the battalion con- 
tinued the pursuit, advancing through St. Pierremont, Taveaux-et- 
Pontsericourt to Maison De Garde, south of Nampcelles. At Val 
St. Pierre, Company C of the battalion, commanded by Captain 
James H. Smith, by a series of flanking operations, drove the 
enemy from a position they occupied with three field pieces (77 's) 
and two machine guns, causing them to abandon the cannon, which 
were taken by Company C. The enemy left several dead on the 
field and evidently had defended the position to the last. For this 
action. Company C was decorated with the French Croix de Guerre. 
On November 8, the battalion was ordered to Camp at LaHayette. 
On November 9 the command advanced to Mont Plaisir. On No- 
vember 10 the battalion moved south to a position at Farm La- 
Hayette. On November 11 it proceeded to Fligny, at which place 
it was found at the signing of the armistice at 11:00 a. m. on No- 
vember 11, 1918. 

On November 5 the 3rd Battalion began the pursuit and rested 
in the open field at night on the 5th and 6th. On November 7 
the battalion moved up and passed Bosmont, Tai-veaux, Virginette, 
Lambercy, Mont Plaisir, and on into the front lines at the Rue 
Larcher. At the Rue Larcher the battalion passed under command 
of Colonel Pernin, of the 325th (French) Regiment of Infantry. 
On November 9, the battalion passed under command of Lieut.- 



226 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Colonel Lugand and was ordered to attack Pont d'Any. The ob- 
jective was reached, the enemy retiring before the advance of the 
battalion. On November 10 the battalion continued the pursuit 
to Etignieres, where it was stopped temporarily by heavy shell 
fire. On November 11 the battalion again took up the pursuit with 
Reginowez as the principal objective. Later the objective was 
changed to Gue d'Hossus, Belgium. The battalion reached its 
objective a few moments before the signing of the armistice. 

After the Armistice 

On November 12 the 3rd Battalion, pursuant to Order No. 
2082/3, Headquarters 59th Division, French Army, retired from 
Belgium and took station at Auge (Aisne). On November 15 the 
regiment changed station as follows: Regimental Headquarters 
and the 1st Battalion to Dagny (Aisne) ; the 2nd Battalion to St. 
Clements (Aisne) and the 3rd Battalion to Morgny (Aisne). On 
November 16 the regiment changed station as follows : Regimental 
Headquarters and the 1st Battalion to Barrenton-sur-Serre (Aisne) ; 
the 2nd and 3rd Battalions to Froidmont-Cohartille (Aisne). On 
the following day, November 17, Regimental Headquarters and the 
1st Battalion changed station to Verneuil-sur-Serre (Aisne). 

From November 17 to December 12, 1918, the regiment was 
engaged at its various stations in cleaning and repairing roads and 
villages in the immediate vicinity of its stations. On December 
12 the regiment formally passed from under command of the 
French and on the same date left the various villages in which 
cantoned and marched to Soissons, arriving in the afternoon of the 
13th. On December 15 Capt. John H. Patton was relieved from 
command of the 2nd Battalion and resumed his duties as Regi- 
mental Adjutant and Major R. M. Stokes was relieved from duty 
with Supply Company and was assigned to command the 2nd 
Battalion. 

The usual cantonment duties were performed at Soissons until 
December 23, 1918, on which date the regiment entrained for the 
American Embarkation Center at Le Mans, arriving on December 
25, 1918, and going into cantonment. While stationed at Le Mans, 
the regiment was engaged in the various inspections incident to 
embarkation for the United States until January 8, 1919, on which 



"THE EIGHTH H.LINOIS" 227 

date the regiment entrained for Brest, arriving there on January 
10 and going into camp at Camp Pontanezen. 

Until Febniary 1, 1919, the regiment engaged in the various 
delousings, inspections, etc., incident to embarkation and on that 
date began embarking on the SS. La France IV, Colonel T. A. 
Roberts assuming command of the troops on board and Captain 
Patton the duties of Transport Adjutant. The embarkation hav- 
ing been completed on February 2, the steamer sailed for the 
United States, arriving at New York on February 9, and proceeding 
to Camp Upton, Long Island, for station. 

The Reception in Chicago 

February 15, 1919, the regiment entrained at Camp Upton, 
Long Island, N. Y., en route for Camp Grant, Illinois, via Chicago. 
On February 17 the regiment arrived at Chicago, detrained, and 
proceeded to the Coliseum, where the citizens had arranged a re- 
ception for the returning regiment. At 2:00 p. m. the regiment 
paraded through the "Loop" district of Chicago and at about 4:00 
p. m. entrained for Camp Grant, Illinois, arriving the same date 
and going into barracks. 

From the date of arrival at Camp Grant, the regiment engaged 
in the various duties incident to preparation for demobilization 
until Februarj^ 24, on which date the discharge of officers and 
enlisted men began, and continued until March 12, 1919, on which 
date the regiment formally ceased to exist. 

Cordial Relations Overseas 

In commenting upon the friendly and cordial relations which 
existed between French, English, and Negro officers overseas Capt. 
John H. Patton, at one time commanding the 2nd Battalion, 370th 
Infantry (and who, together with Capt. James E. Dun j ill and Lieut. 
Charles S. Parker, 366th Infantry, 92nd Division, were the only 
three Negroes who served in the capacity of Regimental Adjutants 
during the war), made the following statement: 

''Both French and English officers were very friendly and hos- 
pitable in their relations with the colored officers of the 370th In- 
fantry, which unit was brigaded with French troops. They made 
no discrimination whatsoever in their treatment of Negro officers, 



228 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

with whom they fraternized freely and truly regarded them as 
brothers in arms. 

''Colonel Franklin A. Denison and Lient.-Colonel Otis B. 
Duncan were frequently entertained at lunch, not only by officers 
of their own rank, but occasionally by French generals, for instance, 
by Gen. Hirshauer, Commander 2nd French Army ; Gen. Lebuc, com- 
manding the 73rd Division; Gen. De Boisuide, commanding the 
10th Division; Gen. Savatier, commanding the 34th Division; Gen. 
Pauliner, commanding the 40th Army Corps, and frequently by 
Gen. Mittlehauser, who was the commanding officer of the 36th 
(French) Division." 

Awards and Commendations 

The first American Distinguished Service Cross won by the 
370th Regiment was awarded to Corporal Isaac Valley, Company 
M, in the following language: "When on July 22, 1918, a hand 
grenade was dropped among a group of soldiers in the trench and 
when he might have saved himself by flight he (Corp. Isaac Valley, 
Company M, 370th Infantry), attempted to cover it with his foot 
and thereby protect his comrades ; in the performance of this brave 
act he was severely wounded." 

While serving under General Mangin, the French command- 
ing officer of the Tenth Army of France, the men of the 370th U. S. 
Infantry came to be known as the ''Black Devils" by the Germans 
because of their fighting spirit, and were facetiously called "Part- 
ridges" by their French comrades because of their proud bearing. 

Lieut.-Colonel Otis B. Duncan, commander of the Third Bat- 
talion, 370th Infantry, formerly the old Eighth Illinois National 
Guard Regiment, who was raised from the rank of Major to 
Lieutenant-Colonel at Camp Stuart, Newport News, Virginia, 
March, 1918 (being the highest ranking Negro officer in the Amer- 
ican Expeditionary Forces), in speaking of the military campaign 
overseas in which the 370th U. S. Infantry participated, spoke in 
St. Louis of the difficulties which his men had to face and of the 
hardships they had to endure. He related some of the deeds of 
the regiment, but modestly refused to speak of his personal ex- 
ploits. He wears, however, the French Croix de Guerre, with silver 
star, conferred by the French Government through General Vin- 



''THE EIGHTH ILLINOIS" 229 

cendon, who, in a general order, relates how the Third Battalion 
(Lieut.-Colonel Duncan's command) took Logny, and "carried 
away hy their ardor of the previous week could not he stopped 
short of Gue d'Hossus, on November 11th after the ar^nistice." 

Colonel Duncan continued: "Beginning September 27, 1918, 
we sailed into them and drove them back to the Ailette Canal, 
where they made a stand, facing us not 50 yards away. The 
fighting here was fierce. The Germans had placed barbed-wire 
entanglements in the canal, but we avoided these with pontoon 
bridges and continued our drive. We reached what was known 
as Mont des Signes, or "Monkey Mountain." We took up our 
position here between "Monkey Mountain" and the German line, 
near a narrow-gauge railroad. Here we encountered more con- 
crete emplacements, dugouts, and barbed wire, and in getting to 
the Germans every man of us had to climb up on that railroad 
embankment, where we were fair marks for any kind of shell 
the Germans sent over. Naturally we lost many of our men. 

"The 370th Infantry," Colonel Duncan said, "was the first 
regiment of allied troops to enter Petit Chapelle, in Belgium, and 
the citizens gave them an ovation. In the advance made by Gen. 
Mangin's army in its 59-day drive, from September 11, 1918, to 
the date of the Armistice (November 11, 1918), one or another of 
the units of the regiment was always under shell fire and fighting. 
In Petit Chapelle the regiment established its lines while German 
combat troops still were in the town." 

Colonel Duncan served for 16 years with the Illinois National 
Guard, and saw service on the Mexican border, where he held the 
rank of Major. He was promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel in April, 
1917. His home is in Springfield, Illinois, where for twenty years 
he was connected with the State Department of Education. The 
order citing him for braveiy w^hich was signed by Gen. Vincendon 
of the French Army, reads : 

"The General commanding the Fifty-ninth Division cites to the Order 
of the Division Military the following names: 

"Lieutenant-Colonel Duncan, Otis B., commanding the Third Battalion 
of the 370th R. I. U. S. 

"In command of a battalion during the operations of September, 
October and November, 1918, up until our victorious annistice, with the 
very best of tact and highest type of judgment. 



230 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

''At all times during the pursuit from the 6th of November to Novem- 
ber 11th, 1918, he was present in person and was an example of bravery 
and endurance for his soldiers. 

(Signed) * ' Vincendon. " 

On the Soissons front the 370th Regiment met with the strong- 
est resistance of the enemy. Companies F, G, H, I, and M dis- 
tinguished themselves in the great drive. They took ''Hill 304" 
from the Germans, and the Tenth French Army, with which this 
unit was fighting renamed it ''370th Infantry U. S. Hill" in honor 
of this Negro regiment. 

Death Valley was another exciting place for this unit, for they 
had advanced into the Hindenburg line and eveiy inch of ground 
that was won had to he held with science and grit. The ''8th 
Illinois Regiment" gave a splendid account of itself, and proved 
at the Oise-Aisne Canal to be among the world's greatest troops. 
Their position was near the center of the 59th Division, in the 
same spot where France had lost division after division. 

Record of the 370th in France 

Suffered 20 per cent casualties, lost ninety-five men and one 
officer killed outright. 

Lost only one prisoner to the Germans in all the months they 
fought. 

Captured many German cannon and German machine guns. 

Participated in the final drive against the Germans on the 
French sector, advancing in the final stages of the war as far as 
thirty-five kilometers in one day. 

Were the first American troops to enter the Fren-ch fortress 
of Laon when it was wrested from the Germans after four years 
of war. 

Won twenty-one American Distinguished Service Crosses, 
sixty-eight French "War Crosses, and one Distinguished Service 
Medal. 

Fought the last battle of the war, capturing a German wagon 
train of fifty wagons and crews a half-hour after the Armistice 
went into effect. 

Refused to fraternize with the Gennans even after the Armis- 
tice was signed. 



CHAPTER XVI 
THE 371ST INFANTRY IN FRANCE 

How This Colored Regiment of the *'Red Hand" Division Helped 
to Win the War — Service in the Trenches Under General Goy- 
bet — In the Great Champagne Offensive — Fierce Fighting and 
Heavy Losses — The Regiment Decorated by the French — In- 
dividual Citations and Awards. 

In addition to the 369tli Infantry Regiment (old New York 
Fifteenth) and the 370th (old Eighth Illinois), the 371st and 372nd 
Regiments, also composed of colored troops, were brigaded with 
the French during their active service overseas. It had been first 
decided by the United States War Department that these four 
colored regiments should form the nucleus of the 93rd Division 
(Provisional), but it was finally decided not to organize the 93rd 
Division, but to brigade these four regiments with French troops. 

The 371st Infantry was organized August 31, 1917, at Camp 
Jackson, South Carolina, in compliance with War Department 
General Order No. 109, of August 16, 1917, as the First Pro- 
visional Infantry Regiment (colored). Col. Perry L. Miles assumed 
command of the regiment September 1, 1917. All the officers of the 
371st regiment were white. On September 5, 1917, fourteen 
colored men from Pensacola, Florida, were received as the first 
recruits for the regiment. The time of arrival of recruits for 
the regiment was delayed by the War Department for about a 
month, because of the shortage of labor in moving the 1917 cotton 
crop. It was not until early in October that the first considerable 
body of recruits was received. By November 20, 1917, however, 
3,380 men had been received by the regiment. These men were 
not all received at once, but in varying sized draft increments at 
different times. Of this number, 1,680 men were transferred to 
labor organizations and 500 to a combat organization at Camp 
Upton. 

231 



232 SCOTT'S OFFICUL HISTORY 

Under a staif of Frencli officer instructors and interpreters, 
the 371st Infantry was reorganized on the French plan, soon after 
its arrival in France (April 23, 1918), with 194 men to the com- 
pany and three machine gun companies to the regiment instead 
of one as on the American plan. All the American equipment 
was turned in, and the men were given the French rifles, bayonets, 
helmets, packs, and other equipment of the French soldier. Only 
the American khaki uniform remained. After a few weeks' in- 
struction in this new equipment and in French tactics, the regi- 
ment went into the trenches as part of the 157th French Division 
under General Goybet. It remained in line for over three months, 
holding first the Avocourt and later the Verrieres subsectors 
(northwest of Verdun). The regiment, with its division, was then 
taken out of line and thrown into the great September offensive 
in the Champagne. It took Cote 188, Bussy Ferme, Ardeuil, Mont- 
fauxelles, and Trieres Ferme near Monthois, and captured a num- 
ber of prisoners, 47 machine guns, 8 trench engines, 3 field pieces 
(77s), a munition depot, a number of railroad cars, and enormous 
quantities of lumber, hay, and other supplies. It shot down three 
German airplanes by rifle and machine-gun fire during the ad- 
vance. 

During the fighting between September 28 and October 6, 
1918, its losses — ^which were mostly in the first three days — ^were 
1,065 out of 2,384 actually engaged. The regiment was the apex 
of the attacking salient in this great battle. The percentage of 
both dead and wounded among the officers was rather greater than 
among the enlisted men. Realizing their great responsibilities, the 
wounded officers continued to lead their men until they dropped 
from exhaustion and lack of blood. The men were devoted to their 
leaders and as a result stood up against a most gruelling fire, 
bringing the regiment its well deserved fame. 

For its action in the Champagne, the 371st was very highly 
commended by the French high command and awarded the Army 
citation. Vice-Admiral Moreau on behalf of the French Govern- 
ment decorated the regimental colors on January 27, 1919, in 
Brest. In addition to this regimental citation, 146 individual cita- 
tions were awarded members of the 371st regiment. These were 
divided as follows; 



THE 371ST INFANTRY IN FRANCE 233 

American Distinguished Service Cross: Officers, 10; enlisted 
men, 12. 

French decorations: Legion of Honor: Officers, 1. Croix de 
Guerre, in various grades: Officers, 34; enlisted men, 89. 

The 371st went into line for its initial experience in sector 
work at a time when a big German offensive was expected. From 
that time until shortly after the Armistice, the regiment remained 
continuously in line or was on the offensive. It was never in rest. 

Eeturning homeward, the regiment sailed from Brest February 
3, 1919, on the U. S. S. Leviathan and arrived at Hoboken, February 
11, 1919. From there it went to Camp Upton, where it was broken 
up into detachments and sent to various camps for demobilization. 
The largest detachment, nearly 1,400 men with Eegimental Head- 
quarters, was sent to Camp Jackson, at Columbia, South Carolina, 
the place of the regiment's birth. Demobilization was completed 
and the regiment dissolved February 28, 1919. 

Praise for the Regiment 

Col. P. L. Miles, who commanded the 371st, speaks in warm 
and approving terms of the efficiency of his men. ' * I never heard of 
similar performance by any regiment of any nation," Col. Miles 
writes, commenting on the feat of shooting three Boclie airplanes 
''on the wing." "Our division commander, who had over four 
years of war over here, said he had heard of a former case where 
one machine had been shot down in a similar manner." 

Another officer of the 371st, Capt. J. Leo Collins of East Pitts- 
burgh, Pennsylvania, a member of the Allegheny County bar, 
who was commissioned an officer at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and 
assigned to duty at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, where the 371st 
was organized and trained, says: ''The 371st was the first draft 
regiment to sail from this country, sailing in April, 1918, and the 
first draft outfit, to take the trenches. In the engagements around 
Verdun the fighting qualities and courage of our boys won the 
admiration and most profuse praise of the French. Citations were 
showered upon the valorous boys for their unflinching conduct in 
the face of withenng machine-gun fire, which they overcame and 
silenced at the point of the bayonet. We broke the Hindenburg 
line at Monthois, and so rapidly did our boys move that a halt was 



234 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

called to enable the right and left flanks of our line to catch up. 
An excellent opportunity was furnished by comparisons as to just 
how good our colored soldiers were. At times we were brigaded 
with the French Moroccan and with English Canadian troops, with 
the G-ermans opposite, and it is quite safe to say that we certainly 
did not suffer by comparison." 

Frank Washington's Story 

A typical story of the courage and bravery of the men who 
composed the 371st Regiment is revealed in the record of Frank 
Washington of Edgefield, South Carolina. He proved his valor 
under conditions worthy of testing the bravery of the bravest. 
He was attached to Company B, and received an explosive bullet 
through the arm at Champagne. His story was as follows : 

*'It was all bad, but the worst came when the German air- 
planes flew low and sprayed the wounded with liquid fire. There 
is no way of putting out that liquid flame, and no one can help 
you, because the fire spreads so quickly. It is bad enough to be 
helpless out there, without water or friends, but to have a hell- 
fiend fly over and just squirt torture at you — well, the Indians or 
the savages of Africa were not much worse. They were not so 
bad, in fact, for they were savages — ^while the Germans are sup- 
posed to be civilized. 

**A Hun plane flew over when I was wounded, but believe me, 
when I saw that fire coming I sure did some lively hopping around. 
There wasn't going to be any broiled Washington if I could help 
it. But some of the mortally wounded were burned to death. 
Those Huns should be made to pay for that sort of thing. It ain't 
fighting; it's concentrated hell! But we had to attend to thew 
wounded, and one of our officers saw that w^e did it. 

*'I went over the top in the fighting on September 29 and 30. 
We advanced after the usual barrage had been laid down for us. 
We went up to the Germans, and my platoon found itself under 
the fire of three machine guns. One of these guns was in front 
and running like a millrace. The other two kept a-piling into us 
from the flanks, and the losses were mounting. We got the front 
one. Its crew surrendered and we stopped. The other guns kept 
right on going, but we got them, too. 



THE 371ST INFANTRY IN FRANCE 235 

**It was while we were attacking the gims on our flanks that 
I was wounded. Ordinary bullets are bad enough, but the one that 
hit me was an explosive bullet. That's me, sir, eveiy time! ^Vlien 
things are coming, I am sure to get my share of them. I certainly 
did get my share. 

** While I was knocked dovim, it was safer to stay down. Those 
machine guns kept right on pumping, not the ones we captured, 
but others. The wind they stirred up around your face kept you 
cool all the time. I finally started back, but found myself in a 
German barrage. It was shrapnel in front of me and machine guns 
in back of me. I lay right down and had a heart-to-heart chat with 
St. Peter. I never expected to get home again. 

**They say Edgefield, back home, isn't much to look at, but I 
would have given two months' pay, including allotments, to get 
back on my farm about then. But now that I've been there and 
come back, I feel that I'm square with this country. I did my 
share, and I'm glad I did it." 

Jim McKinney's Experience 

James P. McKinney, of Greeneville, South Carolina, attached 
to the Headquarters Company of the 371st Infantry, was wounded 
in the right arm by shrapnel. Gas infection set in and he was 
invalided out of service. 

"The day we went over the top," says McKinney, **we took 
our positions early in the morning, and waited until our barrage 
had smashed the German defenses pretty well. About the time 
our barrage lifted, the Huns sent over a counter-barrage, but 
we went right through it, and over the slopes commanded by their 
machine guns. They turned loose everything they had to offer, 
and the storm of lead and steel got a lot of our men. Still, we 
followed our officers into the devils' trenches. A few of the Ger- 
mans tried to fight with their bayonets, but we could all box pretty 
well, and boxing works with the bayonet. A few feints and then 
the death-stroke was the rule. Most of the Huns quit as- soon as 
we got at them. Even tlie ones that had been on the machine guns 
yelled for us to spare them. I guess in the excitement some of 
them fared poorly. 

** While we were advancing we worked along low and took all 



236 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

available cover against the macliine-gun fire directed against us. 
As soon as we came within range we opened fire with hand gren- 
ades and accounted for the machine-gun nests. I sav/ some of the 
gunners chained to their posts. Their barbed wire gave us trouble. 
Our artillery cut it up pretty badly, but still it was a pretty strong 
barrier against the advancing infantry. When we got tangled up 
in the wire, Fritz would play with his rifles. I've seen fellows get 
into a German trench with their uniforms flying in shreds. 

*'I was wounded in the arm at the 'big stunt.' We were at- 
tacking along the whole front, and the Huns were kept on the 
hop. While going up I was hit and had to fall behind. My arm 
was badly mussed up, but I threw a few grenades here and there, 
and guess I got a few of them. 

*'The German artillery fire was accurate. They had our 
ranges down to a science, and while they had good ammunition 
were hummers. They were good marksmen. Why, I've seen them 
cut a regular ditch along a row of shell-holes to prevent our troops 
from using the holes for shelter. There was positively nothing 
they didn't do that was horrible. I've seen them cut loose at a 
company runner with three-inch artillery. It was a funny sight 
for us, but not for the runner. The Huns would drop shells all 
around him while he fled on wings of terror. I never saw them 
get a runner with their artillery fire, but I've seen some very close 
shooting. 

''Perhaps the most unusual experience I ever had was one 
day when we were advancing toward the German positions. They 
cut loose with their artillery and we were ordered to take open 
order and hunt cover. For two hours we were violently shelled, 
but thanks to Providence, none of us was killed. A few were 
slightly wounded. They mixed high explosives mth gas and 
shrapnel. 

"About the hardest luck of the war, though," concluded Mc- 
Kinney, "fell to the lot of a pal of mine. He got a piece of steak 
somewhere and was cooking it, his first bit of steak in months. 
While the meat was broiling the Germans began a gas bombard- 
ment. The men put on their masks, but the meat was ruined. 
That's what I call hard luck." 



THE 371ST INFANTRY IN FRANCE 237 

The Men Never Flinched 

Capt. W. R. Richey of Laurens, South Carolina, who com- 
manded a company of the 371st Regiment, in writing of the men 
of that regiment, said: *'0n the afternoon of September 26, 1918, 
we received orders to move forward. We slept that night in a 
French communicating trench. I say slept, but really there was 
no sleep, as it was raining, and the noise from the guns would 
not let one sleep. The French had gone over the top and were pur- 
suing the Huns. 

''On Sunday morning my company went over the hill. We 
arrived at the position the attack was to start from at 7:30, after 
having a deadly artillery barrage on us over the hill. At 10 o'clock 
Sunday morning we were ordered to advance up the valley, but in 
the meantime an enemy plane flew down low, discovered our posi- 
tion, and signalled his artillery, which opened on us, and every 
minute seemed to be the last one. However, by rifle fire we brought 
the plane down, killing the pilot and observer. 

"Long before we reached the village we could see the cowards 
i-unning up a steep hill beyond, leaving lots of machine guns to 
stick out, and, believe me, when we reached our objective and 
rounded up the machine gTinners the men of the 371st made quick 
work of them. 

"In all, during the two days, Sunday and Monday, our battalion 
advanced about five miles without the aid of a single friendly 
artillery shot or any other help. We killed lots of Germans, 
captured lots of them, and also captured any quantity of material 
and several big guns. 

"I am proud of all m.y officers and all of my men. The whole 
regiment fought like veterans, and with a fierceness equal to any 
white regiment. This was the first time any of them had been 
under aimed shell and machine-giin fire and they stood it like 
moss-covered old-timers. They never flinched or showed the least 
sign of fear. All that was necessary was to tell them to go and 
they went. Lots were killed and wounded, but they will go down 
in history as brave soldiers." 

"They Were Splendid Fighters" 

Lieut. John B. Smith, another Southern officer, residing at 
<jreen\'ille, South Carolina, when asked about the soldierly quality 



238 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

of the colored drafted men who composed the 371st, said: ''The 
men were good soldiers. They were obedient to all commands, 
and were in every way amenable to discipline. They were drafted 
men of all sorts, gathered from the farms and cities and towns, 
from every occupation. To be frank, we were a little dubious about 
them. We did not know whether they would stand under fire or 
not. But they did. They would go right into the thickest sort of 
fight, and they were splendid fighters." 

''Would the colored men stand under a losing fight?" Lieut. 
Smith was asked. "Would they stand the gaff?" 

"Yes," was his reply. "We never had that experience but 
once, for we were usually winning. But in the Argonne Forest 
we advanced seven kilometers one day, getting ahead of the line. 
The next day we were subjected to a terrific counter-attack. The 
enemy used artillery and gas, and airplanes, and rushed us with 
infantry and machine guns. We held our ground for seven hours, 
fighting part of the time with our gas masks on. It was as severe 
a test as any soldier ever had, but our men never faltered once, 
although our casualties were very heavy that day. No soldiers 
could have behaved any better under adverse circumstances. 

"The colored men were given diiferent treatment by the 
French people from what they had been accustomed to receive 
from white people at home," continued Lieut. Smith. "The 
French people could not grasp the idea of social discrimination 
on account of color. They said the colored men were soldiers, 
wearing the American uniform, and fighting in the common cause, 
and they could not see why they should be discriminated against 
socially. They received the men in their churches and homes and 
places of entertainment. The men accepted this, and it did not 
seem to appear strange to them. They seemed to understand that 
the customs over there were different from ours in the South, and 
let it go at that. I don't think anybody need be uneasy or appre- 
hensive. I think these colored men, having made good soldiers, 
will now be more than anxious to make as good civilians, and that 
they will do so." 



CHAPTER XVII 

THE RECORD OF THE 372ND 

A Regiment Made Up of National Guard Troops and Drafted Men 

—Attached to the Famous French "Red Hand'' Division Its 

Splendid Record in France— At Hill 304— Heroic Exploits of 
Individuals— The Regiment Decorated With the Croix de 
Guerre — Citations and Aivards. 

The 372nd Eegiment of Infantry, United States Army, was a 
colored regiment composed of the First Separate Battalion of the 
District of Columbia; the 9th Ohio Separate Battalion; Company 
L of Massachusetts; the First Separate Company of Connecticut; 
the First Separate Company of Maryland — all these being National 
Guard troops, and 250 drafted men from Camp Custer, Michigan, 
recruited mainly from Michigan and AVisconsin. 

It was the fortune of the 372nd Eegiment, U. S. Army, to be 
brigaded, together with the 371st Infantry, throughout its entire 
period of service overseas, with the 157th Division of the French 
Army, the famous *'Red Hand" Division. Like every other fight- 
ing regiment of Negro Americans, whether Regular Army, National 
Guard, or drafted men who had never handled a rifle or kno^\Ti 
the meaning of a salute until after the United States entered the 
war, the men of the 372nd, like those of the 371st, bore them- 
selves throughout with the utmost gallantry and won the highest 
praise for their military achievements. 

No extended narrative of the war could tell as clearly and force- 
fully, and at the same time concisely just what the 372nd did from 
the time its members left America until they returned home a little 
more than ten months later, than the following chronological record : 

** Regiment embarked from Newport News, Virginia, March 30, 
1918, for overseas duty on board U. S. S. Susquehanna. 

''Reached port at St. Nazaire, France, April 13, 1918. 

** Landed April 14, 1918, and marched to rest camp. 

289 



240 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

''Left rest camp Base Section No. 1, France, April 21, 1918, 
and entrained for Vaubecourt. 

''Arrived at Vaubecourt 7:00 P. M., April 23, 1918. 

"Left Vaubecourt 8:30 P. M. Sd. (same day), and hiked in a 
very heavy rain to Conde-en-Barrois, arriving there 2:00 A. M. 
April 24, 1918. 

"Under special instructions with the 13th French Army Corps 
at Conde-en-Barrois from April 24, 1918, to May 25, 1918. 

"Left Conde-en-Barrois 8:05 on the morning of May 28, 1918, 
in French motor trucks for Les Sennades, arriving at Les Sennades 
1 :30 P. M. Sd. 

"Regiment took sector "Argonne West" May 29, 1918. 

"In front line trenches May 31, 1918. 

"Regimental Headquarters moved to La Neufour, June 9, 1918. 

"Regiment changed sectors June 29-30, 1918, and took over the 
Vacquois Sector, a sub-sector of the Verdun. 

' ' The 157th Division being a reserve division at this point Avhere 
the enemy was expected to attack. 

"Regimental Headquarters moved to Camp Chillaz June 30, 

1918. 

"Regiment left Vacquois sector July 13, 1918, for "Hill 304" 
of the Verdun sector. 

"Colonel Young relieved from command and Colonel Tupes 
assumed command at Locheres. 

"Regimental Headquarters moved to Bois St. Pierre July 18, 
1918, and moved again Sd. to Sivry La Perche. 

"Regiment left Sivry La Perche where it had stopped awaiting 
orders to take over sector July 25, 1918. 

"Arrived and took sector about 9:00 P. M. Sd. Usual trench 
duty. 

"Severe shelhng at Regimental P. C. August 3, 1918. 

"Heavy shelling at Monzeville August 16, 1918, by a new regi- 
ment of Austrians which was opposing us, two American and one 
Frenchman wounded. Second Lieut. James E. Sanford, Co. A, 372nd 
Infantry, captured by German patrol August 20, 1918. 

"Left Hill 304 September 8, 1918, being relieved by the 129th 
U. S. Infantry of the 33rd Illinois Division. 



THE RECORD OF THE 372ND 241 

^' Hiked in rain and mud to Bois de Brocourt, the trip being a 
long and disagreeable one. 

''Left Bois de Brocourt September 12, 1918, for Souasems La 
Granges; the trip was a short one and the boys full of fun. 

''Arrived at Souasems Sd. 

"Left Souasems in motor trucks for Juzanvigny September 13, 
1918, an all night trip, arriving at Juzanvigny 12 :00 M. September 
14, 1918. 

"Left for Brienne Le Chateau 8:05 September 17, 1918, to 
entrain for Jussecourt. (Napoleon attended school at Brienne Le 
Chateau.) 

"Arrived at Vitry La Francois 2:00 P. M. Sd. The city is a 
beautiful one and overlooks the battlefield "MARNE," the trip 
being in box cars. 

"Left next morning for Jussecourt at 9:00 A. M. on the hardest 
hike to date and arrived at Jussecourt 8 :00 P. M. September 18, 1918. 

"Regiment left for Contault September 20, 1918, at 8:00 P. M., 
arriving there at 12 :30 A. M. September 21, 1918. 

"Left Contault for Dommartin 9:00 P. M. September 22, 1918. 
Arrived Sd. 

"Left for Camp Des Mangnieux 9 :00 P. M. September 23, 1918, 
arriving at 12 :30 P. M. September 24, 1918. 

"Left for Hans September 24, 1918, arriving and joining the 
9th French Army Corps at Hans Sd. 

"Left Hans to take position in attack; the 3rd Battalion leav- 
ing September 26, 1918, the 1st September 27, 1918, and the 3rd Sep- 
tember 28, 1918. 

"Over tho Top" on September Mom 

" 'Over the Top' September 28, 1918, the 3rd Battalion started 
after the Boche. The first blow being delivered by the 2nd Moroc- 
can Division of shock troops. The retreating Boches are still bom- 
barding our position. Machine gun fire is thick and the 88s are 
falling like hail. 

"On the morning of September 29, 1918, we are trying hard to 
keep up with the retreating enemy, which is retreating fast, unable 
to stand our assault. This afternoon it is raining which is unfortu- 
nate for our wounded, as there are many. 



242 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

*< Today is September 30, 1918, and we find that the 1st Battalion 
is on onr right, and advancing fast in the rain and mud. Machine 
gun opposition is still stiff. Our casualties are small and we have 
captured a large number of prisoners. 

'^ October 1, 1918, we are meeting with a stiff resistance from 
the enemy who has fortified himself in a hill during the past night. 
Owing to the bad condition of the ground we are not getting any 
support from the French artillery. 

''October 2, 1918, we have driven the enemy out of Fountain- 
en-Dormois and are now in the village. Still we are giving the 
enemy no rest, they are retreating across the valley to one of their 
supply bases which has a railroad running into the same. The 
enemy is now burning the supplies which cannot be moved. 

"October 3, 1918, we have advanced and captured the little vil- 
lage of Ardeuil and a considerable amount of war material. Our 
losses have been rather heavy during the past 24 hours, but we have 
inflicted a much heavier loss on the enemy. On our right the 1st 
Battalion has taken the village of Sechaut after some hard fighting 
by Company A. 

** October 4, 1918, the 2nd Battalion is going in this morning, 
and we are resting at Vieox, which is about four kilometers from 
Month ois and is one of the enemy's railroad centers and hospital 
bases. The enemy is busy destroying supplies and moving wounded. 
We can see trains moving out of Monthois. Our artillery is bom- 
barding all roads and railroads in the vicinity. The enemies' fire 
is fierce and we are expecting a counter-attack. 

''October 5, 1918, the German artilleiy has opened up good 
and strong and we are on the alert. They attacked us and a stiff 
hand-to-hand combat ensued. Again he has been driven back, suf- 
fering an exceedingly heavy loss. We have taken many prisoners 
from about twelve different regiments. After resting a little, we 
continued our advance and are now on the outskirts of Monthois. 

"October 6, 1918, the enemy is throwing a stiff barrage on our 
left where the 333rd French Infantry is attacking. The enemy is 
again being driven back. The liaison work of the 157th Division has 
been wonderful, not the slightest gap has been left open. 

"October 7, 1918, our patrols entered Monthois early in the 
morning but were driven out by machine gun fire, but returned with 



THE RECORD OF THE 372ND 243 

a gun and its crew. We have just received word that we are to bo 
relieved by the 76th Regiment, French, sometime during the night; 
we were relieved at 8 :00 P. M. We hiked a very long distance over 
the ground. We fought so hard to take to Minnecourt where the 
regiment proceeded to reorganize. 

''Regiment reached Somme Bionne Oct. 9, 1918. Regiment left 
Somme Bionne Oct. 11, 1918 to entrain for Vignemont. Left Valmy 
8:00 A. M. Oct. 12, 1918 and arrived at Vignemont Oct. 13, 1918. 
Hiked 15 kilometers to St. Leonard and arrived Sd. Left St. Leonard 
for Ban de Laveline in the Dept. of the Bosges Oct. 15, 1918, arrived 
at Laveline 10:15 P. M. Sd. 

"November 7, 1918, 1 officer and 22 enlisted men captured by 
German patrol. Nov. 10, 1918, a patrol of Co. A, took several pri- 
soners from a German patrol. 

Everybody Happy V/hen the End Came 

''November 11, 1918, everybody in the village of Laveline is 
happy over news of the abdication of the Kaiser and the signing 
of the armistice. Martial music is plentiful and the colors of the 
regiment are displayed from the P. C. 

"The regiment left the 10th Army Corps Nov. 17th, 1918. 

"Left Laveline Nov. 17, 1918 and hiked 45 kilometers to Granges, 
arrived at Granges the morning of Nov. 18, 1918. Usual close order 
drill at this station preparing for overseas duty. 

"Regiment left 157th Division Dec. 13, 1918, the Commanding 
General thereof was down to pay his respects to the regiment. 

"January 1, 1919, regiment left for Le Mans (forwarding camp). 
The 92nd Division was assembled here and we met many of our old 
friends. Left Le Mans January 10, 1919 for Brest (embarkation 
port). Left Brest February 3, 1919 for Hoboken. Arrived at 
Hoboken February 11, 1919 on world's greatest ship. The Leviathan, 
U. S. N. (formerly the Vaterland owned by Germany)." 

On October 8th the 157th Division with others was transferred 
from the 9th Army Corps of the French to the 10th Army Corps. 
General Garnier Duplessis took this occasion to commend the division, 
particularly mentioning the American regiments in the following 
general order: 



244 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

"P. C. October 7th, 1918 
*'9th Army Corps. 
Staff 3rd Bureau 
No. 2555 

NOTE 

'^The 157tli, 161st and the 2nd Moroccan Divisions are leaving 
the Army Corps. The General commanding the 10th Army Corps 
addressed to them his most sincere thanks and his warmest con- 
gratulations for the glorious success achieved by their admirable 
ardour and their indomitable tenacity. He salutes the brave Amer- 
ican Regiments who have rivaled in intrepidity their French Com- 
rades. 

**He cannot recount here the feats which have been performed 
for every one jof the days of that victorious journey. They are 
inscribed on the conquered grounds, materialized by the trophies 
taken from the enemy and engraved in the heart of the chief who 
bows before the troops and salutes them profoundly. 

Genekal, Gakniee Duplessis, 
Commanding the 9th Army Corps." 

In transmitting this order to the several regiments compris- 
ing the Division, General Goybet reviewed the exploits of the Divi- 
sion in the following order: 

'^P. C. October 8, 1918. 
** 157th Division. 
''Stafe. 

General Order No. 234 

*^In transmitting to you with legitimate pride the thanks and 
congratulations of the General Garnier Duplessis, allow me, my dear 
friends of all ranks, Americans and French, to thank you from the 
bottom of my heart as a chief and a soldier for the expression of 
gratitude for the glory which you have lent our good 157th Di\isiou. I 
had full confidence in you but you have surpassed my hopes. 

*' During these nine days of hard fighting you have progressed 
nine kilometers through pow^erful organized defenses, taken nearly 
600 prisoners, 15 guns of different calibres, 20 minenwefers, and 
nearly 150 machine guns, secured an enormous amount of engineer- 
ing material, an important supply of artillery ammunition, brought 
down by your fire three enemy aeroplanes. 



THE RECORD OF THE 372ND 245 

''THE 'RED HAND' sign of the Division, thanks to you, became 
a bloody hand which took the Boche by the throat and made him cry 
for mercy. You have well avenged our glorious dead. 

(Signed) GOYBET, 
General, Commanding 157th Division." 

But even greater distinction was to come. On the following 
day, October 8th, Colonel Tupes of the 372nd, received notice that 
his regiment had been recommended for citation in the general orders 
of the French Army. Following is a translation of the official order 
conveying this splendid news : 

October 8, 1918. 
"157th D. I. 
No. 5508 

"From: Colonel Quillet, Commanding 157th D. I. 
To: Colonel Tupes, Commanding 372nd Infantry. 

"The Colonel Commanding the I. D. has recommended your 
regiment for citation in the orders of the French Army worded as 
follows : 

" 'Gave proof, during its first engagement, of the finest qual- 
ities of bravery and daring which are virtues of assaulting troops. 

" 'Under the orders of Colonel Tupes dashed with superb gal- 
lantry and admirable scorn of danger to the assault of a position con- 
tinuously defended by the enemy, — taking it by storm under an excep- 
tionally violent machine gun fire. Continued the progression in spite 
of enemy artillery fire and very severe losses. They made numerous 
prisoners, captured cannons, machine guns, and important war mate- 
rial. ' 

(Signed) Quillet." 

On October 8 General Goybet of the 157th Division, in a com- 
munication addressed to the commanding officers of the 371st and 
372nd Infantry Regiments, U. S. A., said: 

"Your troops have been admirable in their attack. You must 
be proud of the courage of your officers and men ; and I consider it 
an honor to have them under my command. 

"The bravery and dash of your regiment won the admiration 
of the 2nd Moroccan Division who are themselves versed in war- 



246 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

fare. Thanks to you during those hard days. The Division was at 
all times in advance of all other divisions of the Army Corps. I 
am sending you all my thanks and beg you to transmit them to 
your subordinates. 

**I called on your wounded. Their morale is higher than any 
praise. Goybet.'* 

It is to be noted that at the date this communication was re- 
ceived, October 8, 1918, the 372nd had on its roster six colored line 
officers, who were later transferred to the 92nd Division. 

After the Armistice 

On the day of the signing of the Armistice, November 11, 
1918, the regiment was at Ban-de-Laveline. How the termination 
of the war was celebrated is told by Sergeant Wm. J. Huntley of 
the 372nd Infantry, whose account follows: 

**Ban-De-Laveline has today the signs of what one might term 
a ** contented, mirthful, and prosperous village.' It was Ban-De- 
Laveline before the war. News of the abdication of the Kaiser, a 
symbol of the total collapse of the German empire, together with 
the official announcement of the signing of the terms of the armistice, 
putting an end to the fifty months of anguish, brought out all the 
legendary light-heartedness of the people of this vicinity. 

**One of the most inspiring scenes I ever witnessed was today 
about 11:05 A. M. The Eegimental band played 'Marseillaise', 'The 
Star Spangled Banner' and *God Save the King.' As soon as the 
last note was sounded, hilarious cheers, by both soldiers and civilians, 
were almost deafening. Old men jumped and threw up their hats, 
women, whose hearts were heavy from a strain caused by a relent- 
less war, waved their hands and aprons in exultant joy and children 
romped joyously up and down the streets. The bell and chimes on 
the church, which had been previously silent, sent their resonant 
peals far and near. Indeed, they rang out 'glad tidings of joy.' In 
the meantime, the band struck up a lively march and started up the 
street followed by 'Old Glory', the regimental colors and soldiers, 
Americans and French. The scene was a beautiful blending of 
colors — the khaki and the blue. It seemed as if they wanted to 
assemble in one great family to celebrate the glorious events, and 
to see the reflection of their own gladness in the faces of their fellow 



THE RECORD OF THE 372ND 247 

comrades. The street was filled with a solid, slowly-moving and 
seething mass of humanity. It appeared to me that the brotherhood 
of the trenches was heralding the brotherhood of men. 

**I should have mentioned one incident in connection with the 
parade, namely: When the band marched up the street around by 
the church toward the trenches, which was only about two kilo- 
meters, the procession was met by a party bringing to the infirmary 
a Boche who had been captured and also wounded in the early morn- 
ing by our boys. This party joined the procession and in regular 
cadence these stalwart fellows marched in review with their Boche, 
who later was the occasion of much curiosity. I am quite sure this 
prisoner rejoiced silently that the horribleness of such hideous work 
of bestial ferocity, that only the Germans know, was at an end, for 
according to his own statement he declared his comrades were 
satisfied with peace negotiations and also stated that the Kaiser 
must abdicate. Thankful for human hearts, he was not allowed to 
suffer but was immediately relieved of his humiliation and pain — 
and such were the scenes, mingled with sadness and gladness, the 
most inspiring, significant, and most impressive I have ever wit- 
nessed. 

** Elaborate preparations were made for the grand entertain- 
ment which was a part of the day's program. The decorations, 
prepared by both Americans and French, were as pretentious as 
though prepared for the metropolis city of France. At nightfall 
the streets were lighted with electricity (a thing which had not 
been done since the beginning of the war) with jack o 'lanterns, 
lamps and flares of every description. Long before the hour to 
begin the program the theatre was filled by civilians from neigh- 
boring villages and with soldiers of the cantonment. 

"At 7:30 the master of ceremonies announced the beginning of 
the program and at this time the building's seating capacity was taxed 
to its utmost and standing room at a premium. The program began 
with an overture by the band. The significance of the occasion, a 
most enthusiastic audience that eagerly waited, the contagious glad- 
ness which permeated the atmosphere, created an environment in 
which the band has never appeared to better advantage. At the 
conclusion of the number, men and women applauded frantically 
and the American contingent whistled itself breathless. 



248 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

''The program composed of solos, quartettes, dancing, comic 
skit by our boys and solos, duets, comic monologues and a pantomime 
with characters representing Alsace, Lorraine, France, and America, 
by the French. Some of these were entertaining and some were 
otherwise. But considering the events of the day, not one left dis- 
appointed and felt that the evening was spent without profit. As a 
closing number, Collins, the Caruso of the Regiment, sang in a 
pleasing manner ''Perfect Day." 

"And thus Monday, the eleventh day of the eleventh month, 
1918, was passed." 

The praise and compliments of the French for the 372nd did 
not terminate with the cessation of hostilities, for on November 
17th, General Vandenberger, commanding the lOth Army Corps, 
issued the following general order: 

November 17, 1918. 
"10th Army Corps. 
"Staff (French) 

GENERAL ORDER 

"It has been an honor for the 10th Army Corps to receive and 
welcome the 157th Division after its successes in Champagne. 

"During the few weeks that the Division belonged to the Army 
Corps its Regiments of Americans and French have by their con- 
duct and biting activity produced the best impression. 

"It had prepared in its sector the ways of penetrating in Alsace 
and it should have deserved the honor of entering it. 

"But military necessities bring today the higher command 
to consider its use in another part of the front and to give to the 
Americans a part of the front facing Belgium, Luxemburg and a 
corner of Lorraine. 

"The General commanding the 10th Army Corps sees with pain 
the gallant Division and her Chief General Goybet move away from 
him. He cannot defend himself from the painful thought that Gen- 
eral Goybet will not have the consolation of treading with his Divi- 
sion that reconquered land that keeps the remains of one of his 
sons. 



THE RECORD OF THE 372ND 249 

*'To all he wishes good luck and expresses the hope of meet- 
ing again one day. 

(Signed) ' ' Vandenbergeb 
' ' General, Commanding the 10th Army Corps. ' ' 

When the orders were finally issued for the return to America 
of the 371st and 372nd, Colonel Quillet, commanding the 157th Infan- 
try Division, addressed the following message of farewell to Colonel 
Miles and Colonel Tupes, commanders respectively of these two 
Negro regiments:: 

December 15, 1918. 
"157th Division 
"Staff of the Infantry. 

ORDER OF THE DIVISIONAL INFANTRY NO. 100 

"The 371st and 372nd Infantries are leaving France after hav- 
ing carried on a hard campaign of six months with the I. D. 157. 

"After having energetically held a series of difficult sectors, they 
took a glorious part in the great decisive battle which brought the 
final Victory. 

"In sector, they have shown an endurance, a vigilance, a spirit 
of devotion and a remarkable discipline. 

"In battle they have taken by storm, with a magnificent anima- 
tion, very strong positions doggedly defended by the enemy. 

"In contemplating the departure of these two fine regiments 
which I commanded with pride, I desire to tell them all how much 
I think of them and also to thank them for the generous and precious 
concurrence which they brought to us at the decisive period of the 
great war. 

"I shall keep always in my soldier heart their loyal memories 
and particularly those of their distinguished commanders who have 
become my friends : Colonel Miles and Colonel Tupes. 

(Signed) Quillet." 
"Commanding the I. D. 157. 

On the same day, General Goybet, Commander of the entire 
157th Division also took occasion to praise the work of these Amer- 
ican fighters. 



250 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

H. Q., December 15, 1918. 

"157th Division 
Etat-Major. 

GENERAL ORDERS NO. 245 

"On the 12th of December, 1918, the 371st and 372nd R. I. U. S. 
have been replaced at the disposal of the American Higher Command. 

"With a deep feeling of emotion, on behalf of the 157th Division, 
and in my own personal name, I come to bid farewell to our brave 
comrades. 

"For seven months we have lived as brothers at arms, partak- 
ing in the same activities, sharing the same hardships and the same 
dangers. Side by side we took part in the great Champagne Battle 
which was to be crowned by a tremendous victory. 

"Never will the 157th Division forget the indomitable dash, 
the heroical rush of the American Regiments up the Observatory 
Ridge and into the plain of Monthois. The most powerful defenses, 
the most strongly organized M. G. nests, the heaviest artillery bar- 
rages, nothing could stop them. These crack regiments overcame 
every obstacle with a most complete contempt for danger; through 
their steady devotion the RED HAND Division, for nine whole days 
of severe struggle, was constantly leading the way for the victorious 
advance of the dth Army. 

"Officers, non-commissioned officers, and men, I respectfully 
salute our glorious comrades who have fallen, and I bow to your 
colours, side by side mth the flag of the 333rd Regiment of Infantry 
they have shown us the way to VICTORY. 

"Dear friends from America, when you will be back again on the 
other side of the ocean don't forget the Red Hand Division. Our 
brotherhood has been cemented in the blood of the brave and such 
bonds mil never be destroyed. 

"Remember your General who is proud of having commanded 
you, and be sure of his grateful affection to you all for ever. 

"General Goybet, Commanding the 157th Division. 

(Signed) Goybet." 



THE RECORD OF THE 372ND 251 

Washingfton Men Win Honors 

In the 372nd Infantry was the First Battalion of the Dis- 
trict of Columbia National Guard, whose heroes were prevented by 
the Armistice from winning added glory. It would have fallen to 
its lot to have the honor of being the vanguard of the French 
Army of Occupation. Of the nearly 600 District of Columbia 
colored men who were with the 372nd, at least 200 were wounded 
more or less seriously, and about 33 were killed; probably the first 
to fall with a fatal wound was Private Kenneth Lewis. 

The District of Columbia men proclaimed Sergeant Ira Payne 
as the hero of heroes among the District of Columbia fighters. 
He wears the Croix de Guerre and ''isn't afraid of the devil 
himself," according to the men of his company. 

Sergeant Payne speaks modestly of his exploits. He says: 
"During the fighting at Sechault the Germans were picking off 
the men in my platoon from behind a bush. The Germans had sev- 
eral machine guns behind that bush and kept up a deadly fire in 
spite of our rifle fire directed at the bush. We did our best to 
stop those machine guns, but the German aim became so accurate 
that they were picking off five of my men every minute. We 
couldn't stand for that, so I decided I would get that little machine 
gun nest myself and I went after it. I left our company, detoured, 
and by a piece of luck got behind the bush. I got my rifle into 
action and 'knocked off' two of those German machine gunners. 
That ended it. The other Germans couldn't stand so much excite- 
ment. The Boches surrendered, and I took them into our trenches 
as prisoners.'* 

Another hero is Benjamin Butler, a private, awarded the 
Croix de Guerre. His citation reads: "For displaying gallantry 
and bravery and distinguishing himself in carrying out orders 
during the attack on Sechault on September 29, 1918, under heavy 
bombardment and machine gun fire." Butler said: "I did very 
little. During this fight with several others, I carried dispatches 
to the first line trenches from headquarters. They decorated me, 
I suppose, because I was the only one lucky enough to escape being 
knocked off." 



252 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Private Charies E. Cross was awarded the Croix de Guerre 
for **his speed and reliability in carrying orders to platoons in 
the first line under the enemy's bombardment on September 29, 
1918." *'In some cases," Cross said, "I had to creep across 
No-Man 's-Land, and a greater part of the time I was exposed to 
enemy fire." 

First Sergeant John A. Johnson was termed in his citation 
and award of the Croix de Guerre ''a heroic soldier." ''Near 
Sechault, during the time the District men were making a big 
effort to capture the town, I was put in the front line not fifty 
feet away from the enemy," Johnson reports. ''A greater part 
of the time I was exposed to machine-gun fire. I suppose I got 
my medal just because I stuck with my men. Quite a few District 
boys were bumped off at this point." 

Private "William H. Braxton, a member of the Machine Gun 
Company of the regiment, received the Croix de Guerre for dis- 
playing ''zealous bravery." "An enemy party," his citation reads, 
"having filtered through his platoon and attacked same in rear, 
Private Braxton displayed marked gallantry in opening fire on 
the enemy and killing one and wounding several others, finally 
dispersing the entire party." "The men who stuck by me when 
death stared them in their faces, deserve just as much credit as I," 
Braxton said. "I was only temporary leader of the men." 

The official list of the Washington men of the First Separate 
Battalion of the District of Columbia who were decorated follows : 
First Sergeant John A. Johnson, Company B; First Sergeant Ira 
A, Payne, Company A; Sergeant James A. Marshall, Company B; 
Sergeant Norman Jones, Company B; Sergeant Homer Crabtree, 
Company B; Sergeant Norman Winsmore, Company C; Corporal 
John R. White, Company B; Corporal Benjamin Butler, Company 
C; Corporal March Graham, Company D; Private Warwick Alex- 
ander, Company B ; Private George H. Budd, Company B ; Private 
Thomas A. Frederick, Company B; Private John S. Parks, Com- 
pany B ; Private Charles H. Murphy, Company C ; Private William 
N. Mathew, Company D; Private Ernest Payne, Company D; 
Private Joseph McKamey, Company A; Private William Dicker- 
son, Company A; Sergeant Major Samuel B. Webster. 



THE RECORD OF THE 372ND 253 

Decoration of the Regiment 

A special correspondent of the Paris edition of the New York 
Herald transmitted a report to that publication of the distin- 
guished honors shown the 372nd when Vice Admiral Moreau, French 
Commander of the Port of Brest, decorated the colors of the 
regiment with the Croix de Guerre and palm for distinguished 
service in the Champagne offensive, just before the regiment sailed 
for America. During September and October, 1918, individual 
honors had been previously conferred as chronicled above. The 
ceremonies in which Vice Admiral Moreau took part were held at 
Cours Dajot, overlooking the Port of Commerce and was wit- 
nessed by thousands of French civilians and soldiers and sailors 
of several nations. 

The Herald report says: ''The American fighters, numbering 
about 3,000, were with the famous French 'Eed Hand' division. 
They became heroes on many fighting-fronts, and were in the 
Vosges Mountains when the Armistice was signed. 

''Vice Admiral Moreau arrived at about 2:30. Major General 
Helmick, of the American post of Brest, was present as a spec- 
tator. The regimental band added much to the program with 
'Keep the Home Fires Burning,' patriotic selections, and 'Caesar's 
Triumphal March.' 

"The basis of this citation was included in the Army orders 
in favor of the 372nd Infantry, which Colonel Quillet, commanding 
the I. D. of the 157th, submitted to the Commanding General after 
the Champagne offensive battle. 

"The substance of Colonel Quillet's commendation was in- 
cluded in Admiral Moreau 's words, to the regiment. 

"After the delivery of the Croix de Guerre to the regiment, 
Admiral Moreau conferred the Croix de Guerre and palm on 
Adjutant Walsh and read quotations from Colonel Quillet's com- 
mendations quoted above, dated and signed December 15, 1918." 

A Monument to the Dead 

The regiment did not immediately leave France, however. While 
waiting for transport, it was decided by the officers and men of the 
regiment that they would erect a monument with the permission 



254 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

of the French Government, to mark the ground on which so many 
of their comrades had fallen in battle. For the carrying out of 
this plan, General Goybet and Colonel Quillet were requested to act 
as Trustees for the regimental monument fund, in the following com- 
munication from Colonel Tupes: 

** HEADQUARTERS 372nd INFANTRY 

Forwarding Camp, 

A. P. 0. 762. 

January 9, 1919. 
''From: Commanding Officer. 

"To General Mariano Goybet and Colonel Augustin Quillet. 
"Subject: Trusteeship for Monument. 

"1. It is the desire of the officers and enlisted men of this 
regiment to erect a monument upon the ground where we have fought 
in memory of those who have fallen on the field of battle. In order 
to accomplish this, it is necessary that the regiment have representa- 
tives residing in France. Due to the high regard we have for our 
former French Commanders, it is the request of all ranks of the 
regiment that General Mariano Goybet, commanding the 157th D. I. 
and Colonel Augustin Quillet, commanding the 157th I. D., act as 
trustees of a fund that has been donated by all ranks for the erection 
and maintenance of a monument. The fund, consisting of 10,744 
francs, has been deposited with the Credit Lyonnais at Le Mans 
Sarthe, to the credit of the above mentioned trustees. The trust 
fund so deposited is for the purpose of securing a site, purchasing 
and erecting a monument upon the site, erecting a suitable fence or 
safeguard for the monument and covering all expenses incidental 
to the purchasing, erection and maintenance of the monument and 
fence or safeguard and for making and forwarding a limited num- 
ber of photographs of the monument after it is erected. 

"2. It is the desire of the members of the regiment that the 
monument shall be a plain shaft of granite or other durable stone 
with the following inscription in English: 

IFn fiDemori? o! tbe flDcmbers of tbe 

372n& "m^ S. irnfantrv, Iktllet) in action SeptemDer 20, 

1918, to ©ctober 7, 1918 



THE RECORD OF THE 372ND 255 

**3. It is the desire of the regiment that the monument be 
erected if practicable, in a conspicuous place near a public roadway 
and near the most forward point of the advance of the regiment. 
It is the request of the regiment that the two trustees take all legal 
measures to put the above in full force with the least possible delay. 

**4. It is requested that 24 photographs of the monument, taken 
after its erection on the site selected, be forwarded to the present 
Commanding Officer of the 372nd U. S. Infantry. 

''Hersghel Tupes, 

Colonel Infantry." 

The trust was accepted by the Gallant French officers, and under 
their direction there is to be erected in France a massive granite 
memorial to the heroic American Negroes of the 372nd. May they 
rest in peace! 



CHAPTEE XYIII 

NEGRO HEROES OF THE WAR 

The Exploit of Henry Johnson and Needham Roberts — How one 
American Soldier in No Man's Land Killed Four Germa/ns and 
Wounded Twenty-eight Others Single Handed — First Amer- 
ican Soldiers to Receive the French Croix de Guerre — Other 
Instances of Individual Heroism hy Negro Soldiers. 

There is no prouder chapter in the history of the Negro race 
than the records of the American and French Armies that tell of 
the heroic exploits of colored soldiers, exploits that rank with the 
most glorious examples of individual courage and devotion to duty 
in all history. The names of these men who, through their per- 
sonal bravery and daring, won the coveted Distinguished Service 
Cross of the American Army or the no less significant Croix de 
Guerre (Cross of War) of the French, will live forever in the annals 
of the race. 

The first American soldiers of any race, white or black, to 
receive the French Croix de Guerre, were Henry Johnson of Albany, 
N. Y. and Needham Roberts, of Trenton, N. J. Both men were 
privates in the 369th Infantry, the old Fifteenth New York National 
Guard regiment. This regiment was brigaded with French troops 
and early in May, 1918, with other American Negro detachments. 
was put in charge of a long sector of the front line trenches. The 
event that gave to Johnson and Roberts the honor of being the 
first Americans to win the French War Cross is best described in 
a letter which Colonel William Hayward wrote to Mrs. Edna John- 
son, the wife of Private (now Sergeant) Johnson. Colonel Hay- 
ward's letter follows: 

Colonel Hasrward to Mrs. Johnson 

**Your husband. Private Henry Johnson is in my regiment, 
369th United States infantry, formerly the Fifteenth New York infan- 
try. He has been at all times a good soldier and a good boy of fine 

256 



NEGRO HEROES OF THE WAR 257 

morale and upright character. To these admirable traits he has 
lately added the most convincing numbers of fine courage and fight- 
ing ability. I regret to say at the moment that he is in the hospital, 
seriously, but not dangerously wounded, the wounds having been 
received under such circumstances that every one of us in the regi- 
ment would be pleased and proud to trade places with him. It was 
as follows: 

*'He and Private Needham Roberts were on guard together at 
a small outpost on the front line trench near the German lines and 
during the night a strong raiding party of Germans numbering 
from twelve to twenty judging by the weapons, clothing and para- 
phernalia they left behind and by their footprints, stole across No 
Man's Land and made a surprise attack in the dead of the night on 
our two brave soldiers. 

Fighting Against Great Odds 

**We had learned some time ago from captured German prison- 
ers that the Germans had heard of the regiment of Black Amer- 
icans in this sector, and the German officers had told their men 
how easy to combat and capture them it would be. So this raiding 
party came over, and on the contrary Henry Johnson and Needham 
Roberts attended very strictly to their duties. At the beginning 
of the attack the Germans fired a volley of bullets and grenades and 
both of the boys were wounded, your husband three times and 
Roberts twice, then the Germans rushed the post, expecting to make 
an easy capture. In spite of their wounds, the two boys waited coolly 
and courageously and when the Germans were within striking dis- 
tance opened fire, your husband with his rifle and Private Roberts 
from his helpless position on the ground with hand grenades. But 
the German raiding party came on in spite of their wounded and in 
a few seconds our boys were at grips with the terrible foe in a 
desperate hand-to-hand encounter, in which the enemy outnumbered 
them ten to one. 

*'The boys inflicted great loss on the enemy, but Roberts was 
overpowered and about to be carried away when your husband, who 
had used up all of the cartridges in the magazine of his rifle and 
had knocked one German down with the butt end of it, drew his bolo 
from his belt. A bolo is a short heavy weapon carried by the American 



258 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

soldier, with the edge of a razor, the weight of a cleaver and the 
point of a butcher knife. He rushed to the rescue of his former 
comrade, and fighting desperately, opened mth his bolo the head 
of the German who was throttling Eoberts, and turned to the boche 
who had Eoberts by the feet, plunging the bolo into the German's 
bowels. This one was the leader of the German party, and on 
receiving what must have been this mortal wound, exclaimed in Amer- 
ican English, without a trace of accent, ''Oh, the son of a got 

me,'^ thus proving that he was undoubtedly one of the so-called 
German-Americans who came to our country, not to become a good 
citizen, but to partake of its plenty and bounty and then return to 
fight for the kaiser and help enslave the world. He was doubtless 
selected as a leader of the party to speak English and perhaps fool 
my soldiers, calling to them in English not to fire, that it was a 
friend. 

Kniiing the Hun 

"Henry laid about him right and left with his heavy knife, and 
Eoberts, released from the grasp of the scoundrels, began again 
to throw hand grenades and exploded them in their midst, and the 
Germans, doubtless thinking it was a host instead of two brave 
Colored boys fighting like tigers at bay, picked up their dead and 
wounded and slunk away, leaving many weapons and part of their 
shot riddled clothing, and leaving a trail of blood, which we followed 
at dawn near to their lines. We feel certain that one of the enemy 
was killed by rifle fire, two by your husband 's bolo, one by grenades 
thrown by Private Eoberts and several others grievously wounded. 
So it was in this way the Germans found the Black Americans. 
Both boys have received a citation of the French general command- 
ing the splendid French division in which my regiment is now serv- 
ing and will receive the Croix de Guerre (Cross of War). The 
citation translated, is as follows: 

"First — Johnson, Henry (13348), private in company C, being 
on double sentry duty during the night and having been assaulted 
by a group composed of at least one dozen Germans, shot and dis- 
abled one of them and grievously wounded two others with his bolo. 
In spite of three wounds with pistol bullets and grenades at the 
beginning of the fight, this man ran to the assistance of his wounded 
comrade who was about to be carried away prisoner by the enemy. 



NEGRO HEROES OF THE WAR 259 

and continued to fight up to the retreat of the Germans. He has 
given a beautiful example of courage and activity. 

"Second — Roberts, Needham (13369), private in Company C, 
being on double sentry duty during the night was assaulted and 
grievously wounded in his leg by a group of Germans continuing 
fighting by throwing grenades, although he was prone on the ground, 
up to the retreat of the enemy. Good and brave soldier. The general 
requested that the citation of the division commander to the soldier 
Johnson be changed to the citation of the orders of the Army. 

* * Some time ago the great General Gouraud placed in my hands 
the sum of 100 francs to be sent to the family of the first one of my 
soldiers wounded in the fight mth the enemy under heroic circum- 
stances. Inasmuch as these boys were wounded simultaneously, and 
both displayed great heroism, I think it but fair to send to each 
one-half of this sum. Accordingly I am enclosing New York ex- 
change for the equivalent of fifty francs. I am sure that you have 
made a splendid contribution to the cause of liberty by giving your 
husband to your country, and it is my hope and prayer to bring 
him back to you safe and sound, together with as many comrades 
as it is humanly possible by care and caution to conserve and bring 
back to America. But it must be borne in mind that we cannot all 
eome back, that none of us can come back until the job is done. ' ' 

Whole Regiments Decorated 

Four Negro regiments won the signal honor of being awarded 
the Croix de Guerre as a regiment. These were the 365th, the 
369th, the 371st and the 372nd. The 369th (old 15th New York 
National Guard) was especially honored for its record of 191 
days on the firing line, exceeding by five days the term of service 
at the front of any other American regiment. 

Among the honors which France has bestowed upon American 
soldiers none is more interesting than the "citation" by which the 
entire 365th Regiment was given the coveted Croix de Guerre. The 
citation was for gallantry in the September and October offensives 
in the Champagne sector. By command of General Martin, com- 
manding the 92nd Division, General Orders were issued commend- 
ing a number of colored officers, non-commissioned officers, and 
privates of the 365th Infantry for meritorious conduct in action 



260 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

at Bois Frehaut, near Pont-a-Mousson, November 10 and 11, 1918, 
during the drive on Metz. Those named in this General Order 
were Captain John H. Allen, First Lieutenants Leon F. Stewart, 
Frank L. Drye, Walter Lyons, David W. Harris, Benj. F. Ford; 
Second Lieutenants George L. Gaines and Russell C. Atkins; 
Sergeants Eichard W. White, John Simpson, Robert Townsend, 
Solomon D. Colston, Ransom Elliott, and Charles Jackson; Cor- 
porals Thomas B. Coleman, Albert Taylor, Charles Reed, and 
James Conley; and Privates Earl Swanson, Jesse Cole, James Hill, 
Charles White, and George Chaney. In the same General Orders 
the following were cited for bravery in action: Sergeant Isaac 
Hill, bravery displayed at Frapelle; First Lieutenant John Q. 
Lindsey, for bravery at Lesseux, both of the 366th Infantry, and 
First Lieutenant Edward Bates of the 368th Ambulance Corps, 
and Sergeant Walter L. Gross of the 266th Infantry, for distin- 
guished service near Hominville. 

Individual Awards for Bravery 

Among the first men in the 92nd Division to receive the 
Distinguished Service Cross for bravery in the fighting in the 
Argonne was First Lieutenant Robert L. Campbell. He was twice 
cited for bravery in a single battle. Another instance of his 
bravery is told, when it became necessary to send a runner with a 
message to the left flank of an American firing line. The way 
was across an open field swept by heavy machine-gun fire. Volun- 
teers were called for. Private Edward Saunders of Company ''I" 
responded. Before he had gone far a shell cut him do^vn, when 
Lieutenant Campbell sprang to his rescue and carried his man 
back to the American lines. For the valor shown both were cited 
for the Distinguished Service Cross. Before entering the army 
Campbell was instructor in mechanical engineering at the Agri- 
cultural and Technical College at Greensboro, North Carolina. 

Another single detail taken from the record of this same 
company is the instance of John Baker; having volunteered, he 
was taking a message through heavy shell fire to another part of 
the line ; a shell struck his hand, tearing away part of it, but he unfal- 
teringly delivered the message. 

First Lieutenant T. M. Dent was promoted to a captaincy. 



NEGRO HEROES OF THE WAR 261 

On September 28, 1918, Dent led his platoon in a most heroic 
charge and captured a German machine gun which covered the 
bridge crossing the Vallee Moreau, the key to the battle at this 
point. Captain Dent gained the highest rank of any officer in the 
92nd Division under 23 years of age. He was also mentioned by 
Major-General Ballon as follows: '^The Commanding General 
desires to call the attention of the entire command to the excellent 
work and meritorious conduct of Captain R. A. Williams and First 
Lieutenant T. M. Dent, both of the 368th Infantry. During the 
days of the fight around Vienne-le-Chateau both of these officers 
displayed courage and leadership and through their conduct should 
be an example to the other officers of the division." 

In another General Order Second Lieutenant Nathan 0. Good- 
loe of the 368th Machine Gun Company was conunended for ex- 
cellent work and meritorious conduct. During the operations in 
the Argonne Forest Lieutenant Goodloe was attached to the 3rd 
Battalion; during the course of the action it became necessary to 
reorganize the battalion and withdraw part of it to a secondary 
position. He carried out the movement under a continual machine- 
gun fire from the enemy. General Martin said of him : ** Lieutenant 
Goodloe 's calm courage set an example that inspired confidence 
in his men." 

General Martin also cited for meritorious conduct near Vienne- 
le-Chateau, Tom Brown, a wagoner, who as driver of an annnuni- 
tion wagon, displayed remarkable courage, coolness, and devotion 
to duty under fire. Brown hauled his wagon, even after his horse 
had been hurled into a ditch by shells, and despite his o-wti painful 
wounds, worked until he had extricated his horse from the ditch, 
refusing to quit until he had completed his work, even though 
covered with blood from a painful wound. 

Lieutenant Thomas Edward Jones faced a direct machine-gun 
fire to care for a wounded soldier. A man was killed within a few 
yards of him. For this deed he was awarded the Croix de Guerre. 

When Pershing's infantry swept the Huns from the St. Mihiel 
salient September 12 and 13, the veteran Pennsylvania machine 
gunners and automatic riflemen were in the van. Prominent in the 
attack were Lieutenant John H. Geisel, who was wounded on the 



262 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

first day of action, and Corporal David E. Binkley of Lancaster, 
who were recommended for a Distinguished Service Cross. 

Awarded the Croix de Guerre 

The following officers and privates from different regiments 
were awarded the Croix de Guerre: 

Although severely wounded in action near Lesseau, France, on 
September 4, 1918, Private Ed Merryfield of Greenville, Illinois, 
remained at his post and continued to fight a superior enemy force 
which had attempted to enter our lines, thereby preventing the 
success of an enemy raid in force. 

Sergeant Duncan, formerly an elevator operator in a depart- 
ment store in Philadelphia, took over the command of his platoon 
when the platoon sergeant was killed and the officer wounded. He 
was awarded the French War Cross and four hundred francs. 

Captain Napoleon B. Marshall, a graduate of the Washington 
High School and Harvard Law School and an attorney of New 
York City, served on the firing line, where he was gassed and sent 
to the hospital. Eeturning to the battle he was wounded from shell 
fire on October 21, 1918, in a night raid south of Metz in an effort 
to capture a machine-gun position. 

Sailor Edward Donahue Pierson was wounded when the 
U. S. S. ''Mount Vernon" was torpedoed off the coast of France; 
he is the son of Professor and Mrs. E. D. Pierson, his father being 
head of the Science Department of the Colored High School in 
Houston, Texas. 

Lieutenant L. E. Shaw was in one of the most exposed centers 
of the fighting, being under terrific artillery fire and the fire of 
two German machine guns. He handled this very difficult situation 
with cool bravery. The enemy barrage was so close that it was 
impossible to stand up and Lieutenant Shaw controlled his guns 
by rolling from one to the other; his two guns fired 5,000 rounds. 
Lieutenant R. C. Grame was in command of the group which 
received the brunt of the enemy fire which, besides the barrage, 
added a heavy fire of large minenwerfers. There was no flinching — 
the troops always working under perfect control and keeping aU 
combat posts manned, though three men were knocked down by 
the explosion of shells. Private Howard Gaillard, with a small 



NEGRO HEROES OF THE WAR 263 

rapid-fire piece, was unable from position to get a good fire to 
bear upon the advancing enemy groups, so he coolly and with 
entire disregard of danger mounted the parapet and while enemy 
bullets were flying around him, fired his rapid-fire piece from the 
hip, first at one group and then at the other. Privates Smithfield 
Jones and George Woods were specially mentioned for their cool- 
ness in the face of violent shelling when they dismounted their 
machine guns and then reassembled them and continued firing 
until the close of the action. There were other instances of rare 
bravery and Private Sanders, Corporals Frank Harden and Bean 
and Sergeant G. A. Morton were also specially mentioned. 

Dr. Claudius Ballard, a colored physician of Los Angeles, 
received the Croix de Guerre for work in the Belgian drive ; Henry 
P. Cheatham, son of former Congressman Henry P. Cheatham of 
North Carolina, for distinguished service in action under the French 
General Bondeau, Commandant of I'Infanterie de la 59th Division, 
with which the 370th Infantry was brigaded, and Captain Samuel 
E. Gwynne, commanding officer of the Third Machine Gun Com- 
pany for loyalty and bravery in action, having led his men over 
the top after having been wounded twice. 

For extraordinary heroism under fire 124 soldiers of the 
371st and 372nd Infantry have been decorated by the French 
authorities. Four received the Croix de Guerre. Several exploits 
stand out prominently. Sergeant Depew Pryor, Corporal Clifton 
Morrison, Privates Clarence Van Allen and Kenneth Lewis were 
awarded the Medaille Militaire. All except the last mentioned were 
Massachusetts boys and belonged to the same company. Lewis is 
dead, having been killed at his post by hand grenades. He took 
from the Geraians a machine gun while it was in action on Bussy 
Farm in the Champagne district. Lewis was from Washington, D. C. 

Sergeant Robert Terry and Sergeant Charles Hughes were 
in a big raid and went ahead in spite of a terrible barrage fire 
from the enemy. Over the top they went and it was due to their 
coolness under fire that all objectives were gained. 

Private George Byrd was in command of a mortar near 
Verdun. He rendered valuable assistance to a raiding party by 
cutting wires so that the party could advance into enemy territory. 
The mortar he was firing had not been securely placed and it began 



264 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

to jump about. In order to secure a steady aim Byrd sat on it 
while it was piping hot and continued to shoot by feeding the gun 
from behind. In the same company with Byrd was Corporal Eyre 
who received the cross for bravery under fire. 

Sergeant George H. Jordan received the Croix de Guerre and 
palm for taking command of an ammunition train at Verdun on 
October 5, 1918, when the commanding officer had been killed by a 
shell; he saved and brought through eight of the seventeen wagons 
of the train. 

Private Reuben Burrell, of a machine gun company with the 
371st Regiment, was cited for extraordinary heroism in action in 
the Champagne sector, September 30, 1918, and Private Ellison 
Moses of Company C went forward and rescued wounded soldiers, 
working persistently until all of them had been carried to shelter 
after his company had been forced to withdraw from an advanced 
position; all the while he was under severe machine-gun and artil- 
lery fire. For such services these heroes also were given the 
Croix de Guerre. 

Private James "Williams was a member of Company C, of the 
369th, and it was in the attack of his regiment on ^' Snake Hill" in 
the Champagne sector that he exhibited the valor for which he was 
awarded the Croix de Guerre. 

Private Tom Rivers, of Company G, 366th Infantry, was cited 
by the commanding general of the American forces in France *'for 
extraordinary heroism in action." Although gassed he volunteered 
and carried important messages through hea^^- barrages and re- 
fused aid until his company was relieved. 

Heroes of ''The Old Eighth" Decorated 

The Disting-uished Service Cross has been awarded to the fol- 
lowing soldiers attached to the old 8th Illinois Regiment. Copies 
of citations follow: 

Private Tom Powell (deceased) for extraordinary heroism 
in action near Beaume, France, November 8, 1918. He repeatedly 
carried messages under severe fire to the various units in the 
\'icinity of his company, until he was killed in the performance of 
his duty. 



NEGRO HEROES OF THE WAR 265 

Private Spirley Irby carried messages to the various units in 
his vicinity under severe enemy fire. He was badly wounded. 

Private Alfred Williamson of the Medical Detachment was 
assigned to duty at the first-aid station, but volunteered to accom- 
pany the attacking lines to more expeditiously attend to the 
wounded. During the advance he constantly exposed himself to 
the enemy fire to render first aid. 

Acting as ammunition carrier, Private Arthur Johnson re- 
ceived a painful injury in the back from a shell fragment. While 
engaged in carrying ammunition he found a wounded man in an 
exposed position, and, regardless of his own wound, carried this 
man under hea\'y fire to the first-aid station, a distance of more 
than a kilometer, returning to his work immediately afterward. 

Private Charles T. Monroe, afterward promoted to Sergeant, 
in the absence of a platoon commander took charge of a platoon 
of Stokes mortars, directing the work of the men under hea^T" 
shell fire. Although the shelling was so intense that guns were 
at times buried, Sergeant Monroe and his men worked imceasingly 
in placing them back into action. He himself was buried by the 
explosion of a shell, but on being dug out continued to direct the 
work of the men and encouraged them by his fearless example. 

During the action at Mont-de-Sanges, September 20 to October 
1, 1918, Sergeant Thompson, then a corporal, volunteered and 
took charge of a detail to secure rations. He succeeded in this 
mission under very dangerous and trying conditions, and, not- 
withstanding the fact that his detachment suffered numerous 
casualties, he remained on this duty, and continued to supply the 
company with rations until completely exhausted. 

A messenger having been wounded by an enemy sniper in the 
open between the line, Sergeant Lester Fossie immediately went 
to his rescue and brought him into the company headquarters, over 
ground swept by machine-g-un and sniper's fire. 

Early Instances of Heroism 

No one in France was in a better position to report on the 
heroism of Negro soldiers than Ralph W. Tyler, the Negro war 
correspondent. Here is Mr. Tyler's report of some of the first 
instances that came to his attention: 



266 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

''Somewhere in France. — xi successful raid, planned by one of 
tlie majors of the old 8th Illinois Regiment, Avhose home is at 
Metropolis, Illinois, was made in the Voucharn sector, and with 
great daring. The motor battery of the regiment first took part in 
laying down a barrage fire. The barrage fire began at 4 o'clock 
in the morning — just as the first rays of the sun shone sluggishly, 
and but dimly, behind the horizon. At the hour named, every 
gunner was at his post. The Major flashed an electric signal, and 
within a minute or two thereafter every gun fired simultaneously, 
as if connected with and controlled by an electric battery. For 
fifteen minutes the colored, gunners kept up their barrage fire, 
and then a French company was sent out behind the barrage to 
make the raid. So surprising vv^as the raid, and so quickly made, 
that but three of the colored soldiers were wounded, and they but 
slightly, and but eight of the French, Y>^ith whom they v/ere fighting, 
while the Germans' casualty toll was eleven killed and three 
wounded, and the remainder were captured." 

The Negro in the Argonne 

''Stories of the fight in the Argonne Forest," said Mr. Tyler 
in a later report, "and the splendid endurance and valiant fighting 
of the colored soldiers continue to come in. It is reported that a 
company of the old Ninth Ohio Battalion, under command of its 
colored captain from Dayton, Ohio, lay in an open field all night, 
awaiting orders to go into action, while all the time the Germans 
were dumping big shells and machine-gun fire into them. But 
even in the face of such a murderous fire, the colored line stood as 
firm as if the huge shells and murderous machine-gun fire were but 
the discharge of toy blowguns. Among their casualties were 
Anderson Lee and William Chenault, of Dayton, who were killed. 
The firmness of the line these khaki-garbed black soldiers main- 
tained in the face of a withering fire — a veritable heU — constitutes 
one more reason why the folks of the race back home should be 
proud of these, their colored soldiers over here, whose unyielding 
spirit and bravery is making history for the race. 

"I have learned that Hill 304, which the French so valiantly 
held, and. which suffered such a fierce bombardment from the 
Germans that there is not a single foot of it but what is plowed 



NEGRO HEROES OF THE WAR 267 

Tip by shells, and whose sides, even today, are literally covered with 
the corpses of French soldiers who still lie where they fell, was 
later as valiantly held by the colored soldiers from the United 
States, who fought with all the heroism and endurance the best 
traditions of the army have chronicled. The colored soldiers, 
under their own captain from Dayton, Ohio, who so splendidly 
maintained their line in the Argonne Forest, and those who held 
that bloody and forever historical Hill 304, had the odds against 
them, but like Tennyson's immortalized *Six Hundred,' they fought 
bravely and well, firmly in the belief it was 'not theirs to reason 
why, but theirs to do or die,' and, like the patriots they were, 
they did DO and this war's history will so record." 

How Two Colored Captains Fell 

Still another report by Mr. Tyler says: ''Recently, in an 
engagement already reported, a colored unit was ordered to charge, 
and take if possible, a very difficult objective held by the Germans. 
Captains Fairfax and Green, two colored officers, were in command 
of the detachments. They made the charge, running into several 
miles of barb-wire entanglements, and hampered by a murderous 
fire from nests of German machine guns which were camouflaged. 
Just before charging, one of the colored sergeants, running up to 
Captain Fairfax, said: 'Do you know there is a nest of German 
machine guns ahead?' The Captain replied: 'I only know we 
have been ordered to go forward, and we are going.' Those were 
the last words he said, before giving the command to charge, 'into 
the jaws of death.' The colored troops followed their intrepid 
leader with all the enthusiasm and dash characteristic of patriots 
and courageous fighters. They went forward, they obeyed the 
order, and as a result 62 men and two officers were listed in the 
casualties reported. Captains Fairfax and Green being among those 
who fell to rise no more. Captain Fairfax's last words: 'I only 
know we have been ordered to go forward, and we are going,' are 
words that will forever live in the memory of their race; they are 
words that match those of Sergeant Carney, the color sergeant of 
the 54th Massachusetts during the Civil War, who, although badly 
wounded, held the tattered, shot-pierced Stars and Stripes aloft 
and exclaimed: 'The old flag never touched the ground.' Men 



268 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

who have served under Captains Fairfax and Green say two braver 
officers never fought and fell." 

"Since this 92nd Division has been in France there has come 
to it four promotions for its colored officers, among these being 
the promotion of Captain Adam E. Patterson and Captain Dean 
to majorships, the former now serving as Divisional Judge Advo- 
cate, while the latter is in command of a munition train. Major 
Patterson will be remembered as the colored man whom President 
"Wilson, soon after his first inauguration, nominated for the posi- 
tion of Register of the Treasury, but who, on learning certain 
Southern Senators would prevent his confirmation, wrote the Presi- 
dent requesting, in order not to embarrass the President, that he 
withdraw his name, which was done. The Division Commander 
speaks in high terms of Major Patterson's ability, his attentiveness 
to duty, and his fine conduct of the office of Division Judge Advo- 
cate. Both Major Patterson aiid Major Dean won their promotion, 
the Division Comynander says, on merit alone." 

Captadn Jones and His Gallant Fighters 

**In one engagement in the Argonne woods, where the fighting 
has been most sanguinary, ' ' said Mr. Tyler, ' ' and where the Amer- 
ican troops showed their mettle. Captain J. "Wormley Jones, of 
Washington, D. C, is reported to have stood like a stone wall, and 
rallied his men, when others were wavering in the face of a mur- 
derous fire and of great odds. In this particular engagement. 
Captain Jones displayed such fine leadership, such fearlessness of 
danger, that his Division Commander, in a personal talk with the 
writer, praised in highest terms the valor and leadership shown 
by the Captain. It is such instances as these, and there are many 
coming to light almost daily, that justify the hope entertained 
by the race that our colored officers would prove efficient, and that 
our colored soldiers v/ould fight as well under colored officers as 
under any others." And in a later dispatch Mr. Tyler continued: 

** Realizing that there is nothing more encouraging to the race 
back in the States than to learn how bravely our colored soldiers 
over here are enduring and fighting, I made it a point to secure a 
fuller report of the bravery displayed by Captain J. Wormley 
Jones, of Washing-ton, D. C, in one of the Argonne engagements. 



NEGRO HEROES OF THE WAR 269 

The place of honor, it appears, fell to Captain Jones's regiment, 
and to the battalion to which he belongs. Under cover of the night 's 
pitch-black darkness, the Captain led his men into the trenches 
overlooking No-Man's Land, that grim sepulcher that holds so 
many thousands of the Allies' and the enemy dead. 

*' Notwithstanding that Captain Jones and his men had just 
completed a forced march of some twenty kilometers, the men were 
in excellent condition and splendid spirits, and eager to demon- 
strate their fitness to try conclusions with the Huns. Captain 
Jones was supported by Lieutenants Frank Coleman, C. W. Mar- 
shall, D. J. Henderson, and Paul Jones, the last mentioned being 
a brother of the captain. These men were all of 'the sterner 
stuff,' and fit for the trying ordeal which awaited them. Space 
forbids dealing with the blackness of the night, or with the awful 
bombardment. 

'* Neither can I individualize respecting the magnificent valor 
of the men of the company led by Captain Jones in this engage- 
ment, which Secretaiy Baker himself praised. When the awful 
bombardment died away, just as the gray streaks of early dawn 
pierced the night's blackness, which was made grayer by a thick 
heavy fog, the Captain ordered a charge *over the top' with fixed 
bayonets; through the treacherous fog and into no-man-knew-what 
or seemed to care. The first wave, or detachment, went over with 
a cheer — a triumphant cheer — and the second wave followed their 
comrades with a dash. It may, perhaps, be best to let these boys 
and officers tell with their own lips of the terrific, murderous shell, 
shrapnel, gas, and machine-g-un fire which baptized them, only to 
make them the more hardened and intrepid warriors; of how they 
contended every inch; fought with marvelous valor, never for an 
instant faltering. Trench after trench of the enemy was entered 
and conquered; dugout after dugout was successfully grenaded 
and made safe for the boys to follow; wires were cut and communi- 
cating trenches explored; machine-gun nests were raided and 
silenced, and still the boys fought their way on. Of course, as a 
natural sequence to such a daring raid, there were casualties, but 
the black soldiers, heroes as they were, never flinched at death, and 
the wounded wore too proud of their achievements even to mummr 
because of the pain they endured. Captain Jones and his men 



2T0 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

took over a mile of land and trenches which for four years had 
been held by the Germans. The newspapers have given due and 
proper credit to the Americans for this daring raid, but the world 
has not been informed that it was the colored soldiers of Ajnerica, 
under Captain J. Wormley Jones, a former Washington, D. C, 
policeman, who made the charge that was as daring, and more 
successful, than the Tennyson-embalmed charge of 'The Light 
Brigade.' " 

A Brave Y. M. 0. A. Secretary 

To E. T. Banks, of Dayton, Ohio, belongs the honor of being 
the first Y. M. C. A. colored secretary to go ''over the top," which 
he did in one of the Argonne engagements. It was permitted him 
to fight for two days and nights in the forests and trenches side 
by side Avith real soldiers. On the last night, while lending first 
aid to a wounded black scout soldier, he was fired upon by a Ger- 
man machine gun, but succeeded in bringing his wounded scout 
to the American line, though not until they had lain all night in the 
forest under a most fearful barrage fire. For his bravery. Banks 
was cited and recommended for meritorious service. An officer, in 
a personal letter to him commending his splendid service, wrote: 
"When the full story of the Argonne is told, the 'Red Triangle* 
represented by Mr. Banks will add beauty to the rainbow that is 
reflected from the silent tombs of those who sleep the sleep of 
death that Democracy may not perish from the earth.*' 

A Heroic Colored Physician 

There was a heroic calmness, according to Ralph W. Tyler, 
in the death of Lieutenant Urban F. Bass, of Fredericksburg, Vir- 
ginia, colored, serving as a physician with one of the colored regi- 
ments, and it is deserving of more than a passing notice. He was 
directing the affairs of his temporary aid station just behind the 
crest of a hill, while the battle was raging, when a shell from the 
enemy's gun combed the hill and struck among the group of work- 
ers being directed by him, tearing off both legs of the physician. 
Lieut. Bass, with remarkable fortitude, as calmly instructed his 
hospital corps how to give him first aid as if he was but writing a 
prescription for one of his patients back in his Virginia office. 



NEGRO HEROES OF THE WAR 271 

He died a few moments later, from blood hemorrhage. Thus went 
a most promising colored physician who, although beyond the 
draft age, volunteered his services ; left a splendid practice, wife 
and children, to serve his country in France, and by so doing help 
to advance the interests of his race back in America. 

Here is another story told by Mr. Tyler: ''Yesterday about 
10 o'clock, a platoon of colored men, under colored officers, was 
sent out to reconnoiter, to learn the strength and position of the 
enemy, and with positive instructions to bring back live prisoners. 
They went, but discovering that the enemy was strongly entrenched, 
and realizing that it would be suicidal to attempt to attack almost 
a regiment with a handful of men, returned and reported. The 
Major of the battalion thereupon said he would go himself and 
do the job, and called for eight volunteers to accompany him. 
There was no lack of volunteers, even from among those of 
the platoon that had previously returned to make this report. 
The Major, a white officer, selected eight men from the many who 
had volunteered to make the perilous trip, and started out to locate 
the Huns' position and return with a live prisoner. Instead of 
returning, he, with two of his volunteers, are now prisoners of 
war in the German camp, for they found, to their Major's regret, 
that the colored officer had reported correctly the German strength. 
This is but one more instance showing that the colored soldiers are 
indifferent to fear; that they quickly, cheerfully, and eagerly vol- 
unteer to go even though death or capture is the sure fate await- 
ing them." 

How Lieutenant Cameron Died 

**It was but one of the many small raids nearly every night 
chronicles here at the front," said Mr. Tyler in another dispatch, 
**but it demonstrated the daring courage of our colored troops. 
Some two hundred colored soldiers, under Captain Robert Stephens, 
of Columbus, Ohio, were ordered to raid the Boche's trenches. 
They were ordered to do this without a barrage fire being first 
laid down for them, and without artillery or machine-gun support. 
They never hesitated, however, but out into the pitch-black darkness 
of night they moved, encountered the usual barbed-wire entangle- 
ments which so fearfully harass advance even in the day, to say 



272 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

nothing of the night. The Germans lay quiet nntil these black 
warriors were within forty rods of their trenches, and then they 
opened np a mnrderous machine-gun fire, and exploded shells of 
deadly gas among the black soldiers. But ther latter never wavered. 
They fought manfully against great odds. Among the casualties 
were Captain Stephens and Lieut. Stewart, badly gassed, and 
Lieut. Cameron, of Nashville, Tennessee, killed. Bruce McCray, 
Maxton, North Carolina, just as he was going over the top, was 
hit by a machine-gun bullet that ripped his stomach, and Cor- 
nelius Turner, of Sellars, Louisiana, was stopped from going over 
the top by a bullet which indented his helmet, cutting a jagged 
wound in his head. There were a number who were more or less 
gassed. I visited them in the hospital the following afteraoon, 
and found those injured and gassed getting along as well as could 
be expected, and had the assurance of the physicians in attendance 
— careful physicians of their own race — that all would recover. 
The death of Lieutenant Cameron, however, cast an impenetrable 
gloom over every one in the regiment, and even in the entire 
division, for he was loved by officers and men. The draft would 
not and could not have reached Lieutenant Cameron, but he came 
— ^volunteered — to serve his country, and died for it." 

Badly "Wounded, He Fought On 

"An incident shoAving unusual fidelity to duty came to light 
yesterday. Sergeant Gans, with two other colored comrades, was 
on guard at a 'strong point' on one of the active fronts. During 
the night his two comrades were killed by enemy shrapnel, smd 
he himself had ugly wounds in his back and leg, from which the 
blood flowed freely; still he remained at his post. When it was 
learned that his two comrades had been killed, and he himself 
wounded, Captain Harry Atwood sent to have the dead and 
wounded brought in, but Sergeant Gans refused to leave his post, 
because a sergeant, as he thought was proper, was not there to 
relieve him. It became necessary for Captain Atwood to order 
this badly wounded sergeant to leave his post at the point of a 
bayonet, to secure medical treatment. All he knew was duty; he 
was firm in the belief that before he could leave his post for any- 
thing, a relief should be there to take his place." 



NEGRO HEROES OF THE WAR 273 

A Fighting Colored Chaplain 

**The gas mask has saved hundreds from being gassed," said 
Mr. Tyler, ''but perhaps the first case reported of a gas mask 
saving a soldier's life by warding off a deadly bit of shrapnel was 
the case of Chaplain J. T. Simpson, a former Pittsburgh colored 
minister. The courageous chaplain, as full of fight as of religion, 
was going over the top with 'his boys,' as he called the troops of his 
regiment, when a big shell exploded, and a piece of the shrapnel 
from it hit the mask he was wearing, striking the metal part, other- 
wise he would now be a dead chaplain instead of confined in the 
hospital from shell shock. Frequently it takes longer to recover 
from shell shock than from a shell wound. The chaplain, when I 
saw him was, however, slowly but surely recovering." 

Mental Effect of a Big Shell 

"When one calmly reads of the shelling of a to^vn, he cannot 
form any adequate knowledge of the feeling which possesses those 
who experience the shelling. Yesterday afternoon the Boche opened 
up on the little town at the front, in which I was gathering news," 
said Ralph W. Tyler in another letter. "The big guns of the Huns 
sent their awful instruments of death whistling through the air. 
First a belching sound is heard, and then comes the siren-like 
whistle of the shell as it races overland to its tenninal of destruc- 
tion; and then a roaring,- hellish sound — 'Boom!' — shaking hills 
and vales for miles around. The people are startled. They gather 
in little knots and look far over the lines, whence came the belch- 
ing sound, to see if they can get a view of the approaching engine 
of death. Soldiers hardened to the oft-heard sound, calmly proceed 
about their duties, when they find the Hun has failed to get the 
proper range of the town. But the feeling is peculiar. Even when 
the shell misses, involuntarily there arises, in one's mind, the ques- 
tion: 'Will the next one hitT There are experiences far more 
pleasant than seeing a big death-tipped shell— so I thought when 
two whistled over my head yesterday and struck a few yards to 
the right and left of me," 



CHAPTER XIX 
THE NEGRO SOLDIER AS A FIGHTER 

Unanimous Praise by Military Observers — Value of Negroes as 
Shock Troops — Discipline and Morale Under Fire — What the 
War Correspondents Said About Them — Comynents by Foreign 
Military Observers — Estimates by American and French 
Officers. 

The Negro has always had the record of being a good soldier. 
General Pershing has been quoted as to the courage and valor of 
the colored troops. It may be well to quote here the testimony of 
four other distinguished Americans as to the faithful service of 
colored soldiers in other wars. Commodore Perry said after the 
Battle of Lake Erie: ''They seemed to be absolutely insensible 
to danger." General Jackson asserted on the occasion of the 
Battle of New Orleans: ''You surpassed my hopes. The nation 
shall applaud your valor." Speaking of the NegTo in the Civil 
War, General Grant said: "The colored troops fought nobly." 
Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, reporting on the record of the Negro 
soldiers in the Spanish- American war, said: "No troops could 
behave better than the colored soldiers." 

The reader will have noted that Negro combat units in their 
fighting overseas lived up to all the traditions of their race. They 
distinguished themselves by bravery, fortitude, and loyalty, and 
the records of the regiments of which they were a part compared 
favorably with any of those who went overseas. "Whether in 
Flanders, in Champagne, in the Argonne Forest, in the Vosgee, 
on the Meuse, or before Metz, it was the old story of indomitable 
courage, of willingness to go forward always, no matter how mur- 
derous the opposing fire. There was the same valor and spirit 
displayed by them in every action, and they saw some of the most 
intense and critical fighting of the war. 

The Negroes went into the World War with a spirit of the true 

274 



THE NEGRO SOLDIER AS A FIGHTER 275 

soldier. They were determined to fight it out at the earliest possible 
moment. Sixteen Negro soldiers passing through Defiance, Ohio, 
were asked whether they were going to France. 

**No, sir, I am not going to France," replied one of them, **I am 
going to Berlin and I may stop in France for a short time on the 
way. ' ' 

**What we are aiming to do," said a Negro ofiicer, **is to push 
our way right on into Berlin without stopping, as we promised the 
folks at home we would do, and we don't intend to be long about 
it either." 

"Heaven, Hell or Hoboken" 

Soldiering for the Negro was a pleasant pastime as long as 
there were any Germans around. They, therefore, had for their 
watchword that of the Black Herald: '* Heaven, Hell, or Hoboken 
by Christmas." They soon established themselves as being cool 
and reliable fighters in the front line. Both Americans and French 
report that if the Germans ever discovered who it was that held 
part of the line through the Argonne Forest when the Boche failed 
once to get through, they would have a decidedly high respect for 
the American Negro infantry. 

Their fighting spirit always ran high. They seemed to fear 
nothing. There is a story of a Negro soldier who was found sitting 
pensively in a field while shells were roaring overhead like invisible 
midair express trains. 

**What are you thinking about. Buddy? Making your will? 
Are you wondering why you were nut enough to enlist?" 

**No," said the doughboy gloomily, '^I was wondering how I 
was ever nut enough to let a man hold me up in Chicago last spring. 
He only had a thirty-two." 

Upon an occasion of a Negro regiment hammering its way 
through the German lines the brigade commander summoned the 
colonel of a Negro regiment before him and demanded to know in 
terse military fashion, why that colonel had not maintained better 
control over his troops, and why, above everything else, he had 
not ''stopped" his men and kept them from passing beyond their 
appointed objectives, and, in fact, hacking their way through ahead 
of their own protective barrage. 



276 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

''Stop them?" queried the Colonel ''Stop them? Hell, man, 
how could you expect me to stop them, when the whole German 
army couldn't do it?" 

Because of these unusual feats in war the Germans soon began 
to regard the Negroes not with mere curiosity but with unusual fear. 
Early in the war the German army offered a reward of 400 marks 
for the capture alive of each Negro as an inducement to German 
soldiers to overcome the great fear and terror of the Negroes. A 
discharged German soldier reported that one evening on the front 
a scouting party consisting of 10 Germans including himself encoun- 
tered two French Negroes. In a fight which followed, two of the 
scouting party were killed. One of the Negroes escaped, the other 
being taken prisoner. In the fight two of the Germans left their 
comrades and ran to the protection of their own trenches, but these, 
it was explained, were young soldiers and untrained. The reward 
of 400 marks subsequently was divided among the remaining six 
Germans for capturing the Negro. 

German Fear of Colored Troops 

How the Germans feared the colored American soldiers is indi- 
cated by Mr. Tyler in his report of a conversation with two American 
aviators, Lieut. V. H. Burgin of Atlanta and Lieut. A. L. Clark of 
Boston. Both had been forced to descend behind the German lines 
and had been held as prisoners of war for two months. Writing 
from Brest, where these airmen were waiting for transport home, 
Mr. Tyler said: 

"The interesting part of these intrepid American airmen's nar- 
rative of their fight, capture and imprisonment, to colored people, is 
that while they were captured at different points, and imprisoned at 
widely separated prisons, both state that when brought before the 
German military intelligence department and questioned as to the 
American force in France, one of the first questions asked of them, 
and which the Germans seemed most concerned about, was how many 
colored troops the Americans had over here. Lieut. Burgin, of 
Atlanta, said he told them there were 13,000,000 American colored 
troops in France. He stated that this not only surprised the Ger- 
mans, but appeared to depress them, 'For,* he added, 'the Germans 
have a holy fear of colored troops and their knives wielded mth 



THE NEGRO SOLDIER AS A FIGHTER 277 

skill and dexterity.' He stated that this information made a tre- 
mendous impression on the Germans, although he admitted he did 
not know, at the time, how many colored troops were in France, 
but thought it was best to exaggerate rather than underestimate the 
strength of our forces when questioned by the enemy. 

» "Lieut. Clark, the Boston aviator, also said that the leading ques- 
tion put to him by the German military intelligence officers was: 
*How many Negro troops have the Americans got over here!' He 
stated that not knowing, he was frank in telling them that he did not 
know, but that he believed there were several millions. He, too, 
stated that this information regarding the force of colored troops in 
France, given to the German officers who questioned him, greatly 
depressed them. 

*'It was a fact patent to every American officer and soldier who 
had had contact w^ith German soldiers, that they had a mortal fear 
of colored soldiers. This fear had been occasioned by two things. 
First, before the American colored soldiers had been put on the 
battle front the Germans had encountered the fierce fighting Sene- 
galese and Algerians, fighting with the French, who took no prisoners, 
and who were prone to cut off the ears and other parts of a German 's 
anatomy before dispatching him into eternity. Then again, later, 
they had encountered the 372nd, 371st, 370th and 369th colored regi- 
ments, the first colored Americans to arrive in France, and who were 
brigaded and fought with the French. The Germans had learned 
that the American colored soldier, while not brutal like the Senegalese 
and Algerians, were even harder, more scientific and more dangerous 
fighters. They were men who fought with precision — fought like 
trained veterans — were good in trench warfare, in raids, or in at- 
tack — any way they were ordered to fight, while the Senegalese and 
Algerians were best in attack — being dashing, whirlwind fighters in 
attacks, or as shock troops." 

Efficiency of Colored Fighters 

Major L'Esperance of the 369th regiment has borne testimony 
to the efficiency of his men. Says Major L'Esperance: "The 
heaviest fighting was on September 26, 1918, when we went into 
action with twenty officers and 700 men in our battalion in the 
morning- and at the close we had seven officers and 150 men left. 



278 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Our boys advanced steadily like seasoned veterans and never lost 
a foot of ground they had taken or let a prisoner escape. ' ' 

The testimony of Colonel William Hayward of the 369th has 
already been quoted to the same general effect. Colonel T. A. 
Roberts, who commanded the 370th referred to in the foregoing 
chapters, says: **I have been commended for the fighting qualities 
and general bearing of the men who were actually over the Belgian 
border when the Armistice was signed, and one of my battalions 
was the most advanced unit of the French army with which we were 
cooperating at the time." 

As the New York Times said upon the return of these gallant 
soldiers from France: **The American Negro troops in France 
never failed to share the glory of battle with the Fi-ench, or with 
their white American comrades." 

In all that makes the soldier, bravery, intelligence, endurance, 
and, particularly, good nature under hardship and privation, the 
Negro soldier excels. He is never downhearted, and usually he is 
gay and full of humor. No American army would be complete 
without the familiar and historic Negro troops. 

In the war of wars in which the Negro has participated it 
remained for the American Negro to be represented by a full divi- 
sion, with all the military units thereof. The band of the 350th 
Field Artillery Regiment appeared in Nancy for a concert, 
and this was the first information to reach the inhabitants that 
the only brigade of Negro artillery ever organized had been 
defending Nancy by holding the Marbache sector south of Metz. 
This organization came up behind the line about a month before 
the end of hostilities. It was so eager to get into the fray that the 
men drew some of the guns into, position by hand. The brigade 
participated in the taking of Foret de Frehaut. It was the accurate 
fire of these colored artillerymen which reduced the resistance and 
enabled the infantry to capture the position without great loss. It 
was said by a war correspondent at the front that if Emperor 
William in the weeks preceding September, 1918, had been on his 
historic observation post at Mount Fauson, where he saw the fight- 
ing before Verdun in 1916, he would have seen the American Negro 
r-oldiers holding a portion of the trenches in the Foret de Hesse. 
The unanimous opinion of French military observers, with whom 



THE NEGRO SOLDIER AS A FIGHTER 279 

the four regiments of colored troops served, as well as of their 
oommanders who have been quoted (both Northern men and 
Southern men) was that the colored soldier met every test of 
service. 

Rev. D. Leroy Ferguson, Chaplain in the United States Army, 
writing from France, is quoted as saying: **The colored soldier 
here is making a great record in France, and the officers and French 
people with whom I have talked praise his worth and work. The 
same bravery and courage and skill that characterized his efforts 
in other wars in America and Mexico are shown here in an excellent 
way. They are enduring the hardships and the suffering with 
smiles; their deportment is good; and whether it is unloading the 
great cargoes, digging the roads or on the firing line, the black 
soldier is equal to any. When the history of the war is written 
our soldiers will have their names written large with honors, and 
though here in France for victory, they all want to and expect to 
return to the good old U. S. A. With all her faults we love her 
still — our wives, our sweethearts, families and our homes. I am 
proud to be able to contribute something to the war." 

Comparison with European Soldiers 

The European war gave colored American soldiers the first 
opportunity for comparison of their mettle with the best soldiers of 
Germany, Great Britain and France; and unanimous testimony is 
more or less to the effect that they were able to hold their own in 
courage, endurance and aggressiveness without whimper or com- 
plaint. Colored Americans are proud of the following two para- 
graphs which appeared in TJie Stars and Stripes, the organ of the 
American troops in France: 

"The farthest north at 11 o'clock (when the armistice went 
into effect) on the front of the two armies was held at the extreme 
American left, up Sedan way, by the troops of the 77th New York 
Division. The farthest east— the nearest to the Rhine — was held by 
those New York soldiers who used to make up the 'old 15th New 
York' and have long been brigaded with the French. They were 
in Alsace and their line ran through Thann and across the railway 
that leads to Colmar." 

** Probably the hardest fighting by any Americans in the final 



280 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

liour was tliat wliicli engaged the troops of the 28th, 92d, 81st, and 
7th Divisions of the Second American Army. It was no mild thing, 
that last flare of the battle, and the order to cease firing did not 
reach the men in the front line until the last moment, when the 
runners sped with it from foxhole to foxhole." 

The gratifying thing is that there should be recorded in the 
official organ of the American Expeditionary Forces a reference 
to the fact that colored troops were nearest the Ehine of all 
American troops, as, indeed, they were later the first of all Allied 
troops to reach the Rhine, and that the 92d Di\dsion — their Divi- 
sion — ^was engaged *'in the hardest fighting of the last hour of 
the war." 

The Brooklyn Standard Union epitomizes in an editorial 
expression the general opinion which obtains as to the fighting 
quality of the colored American troops sent overseas to fight ''for 
democracy" during the world war: 

''Of the American Negro soldiers it has been frequently said 
since we have been fighting in France, that they are decidedly the 
most cheerful troops who have spilt blood in this war, and as highly 
courageous as any who have shouldered guns. This is not an 
exaggerated tribute, for the testimony of the Allies, and, of course 
of General Pershing and other white officers bears out this esti- 
mate, while the War Department at Washington has abundant 
proof, in the way of records, showing the bravery of these boys. 

"Some of those who recognized the extremely sociable and 
good natured qualities of the Negro questioned his ability as a 
fighter. They feared he would not stand up well in a bayonet 
charge, or in an advance upon singing machine guns, or where 
shells from the big cannon were bursting and rocking the earth. 
But that was a superficial view. Under his smile and ready laugh 
or grin the colored man has the qualities of a fighter — coolness, 
patience, steadfastness, optimism, pluck and, of course, courage. All 
these have been brought out in recent months, and honors have fallen 
upon him in France in a manner that is cause for national pride. 

"In every department of the army, from wireless telegraphy 
to the sanitary squad, the Negro has played his part and played it 
conscientiously, and it is gratifying to know that this city has con- 
tributed a very large number of Negro fighters to the nation's' 



THE NEGRO SOLDIER AS A FIGHTER 281 

army, for the percentage of volunteers here has been high. Easy 
to mold to the requirements of discipline, happy under any and 
all circumstances, he is an exemplary soldier. On the charge he 
sees red, as the fighter should, and in rest billets or even in the 
trench he seldom loses his cheerful outlook upon life." 

French Wanted Colored Troops 

Assigned to the French High Commission in the city of 
Washington during the war were two distinguished Frenchmen, 
Colonel Edouard Requin and Major L. P. DeMontal. These gentle- 
men often called at the office of the author to make inquiry as to 
when additional combat troops were to be sent to France. They 
spoke in terms of gratitude of the services of the S. 0. S. men but 
their eagerness always manifested was that the War Department 
should decide to send over increasingly large numbers of colored 
combat troops, for, as they both stated, every report that reached 
them from France spoke of the wonderful courage and coolness of 
the colored American troops, who made a wonderful impression 
upon the French population both civil and military and as will have 
been noted from the praise and commendation of high French 
officers, they won the respect of those militaiy representatives of 
the French army. The courage of these colored American troops 
was always in evidence; their cool headedness and bravery under 
fire as well as their desire to engage in the aforesaid engagements 
went to demonstrate that the colored soldiers were unsurpassed as 
fighters. The Germans had little or no respect for the fighting 
ability of these soldiers until they encountered them in several 
hand-to-hand combats. 

The Bulletin of the Armies issued by the French government 
after the completion of every drive in which the allied armies 
participated, gives some of the most amazing records of heroism 
in the history of wars. The Algerian and Senegalese soldiers gained 
favor continuously as fighters of the first rank. The records of 
these soldiers were heralded on the European continent as incom- 
parable achievements of bravery, and upon every occasion when 
they paraded the streets preparatory to leaving for the first line 
trenches, storms of api3lause greeted them from every roadside 
and tavern, and upon one occasion when these black troops returned 



282 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

to the city of Paris, after having been engaged in a vigorous drive 
against the Germans at Verdun, every soldier was bedecked with 
a shower of flowers tendered him by French women, who wept 
bitterly as they viewed the wounded Negroes limp through the 
Paris thoroughfares. 

One of the most remarkable feats recorded in the Bulletin was 
the work performed by a corporal of a French infantry regiment, 
Louis Hermitte, a Senegalese. After a German attack in December, 
1917, he went out of the trench and drove back the enemy by hurling 
hand grenades. He dug himself into a little corner quite close to 
the German line and stayed there for several days. He received a 
military medal. 

Heroism of French Negroes 

The black troops of France won many honors and proved them- 
selves unafraid of suffering. One page in the Bulletin was devoted 
to the mention of five cases of Algerian and Senegalese soldiers, men 
born in a hot climate and quite unused to frost and snow, who 
remained at their posts under fire and fought bravely, though all 
of them were terribly frostbitten — so badly in two cases that both 
legs had to be amputated. In two other cases the men lost a leg 
each. One of these men endured the agony of frostbite and of 
terrific German attacks for nineteen consecutive days and finally 
fell when his ammunition gave out. Still another, with hands and 
feet frozen, fought with such fury that he captured several machine 
guns and single handed brought back sixty German prisoners. 
These feats of heroism have crowned several of the men with the 
Croix de Guerre honors, but these honors are not received with a 
vainglorious boast on the part of the soldiers. It is one of the 
highest honors that a soldier can receive from the government. 

Hard fighting in close quarters calls for a greater measure 
of athletic ability and superior physical strength and endurance. 
This the Senegalese seem to possess to a greater degree than any 
other allied body. In every single close battle with the German 
they proved themselves masters of the situation and slaugh- 
tered their opponents unmercifully. In one instance Corporal 
Hamilde Annonetti was badly gassed, but continued work until his 
lungs were overcrowded with the vapor. He was taken to the 



THE NEGRO SOLDIER AS A FIGHTER 283 

relief station and begged to go back to the firing line to finish his 
attack. After being temporarily relieved he escaped from the hos- 
pital and dragged himself back two miles over the bullet riddled 
ground and renewed his attack, killing, it is claimed, five or more 
Germans who were manning a machine gun. He was picked up by 
the ambulance corps with both legs shot away. 

The high state of discipline and the morale which existed in 
the 92d (colored) Division was the subject of a great deal of 
comment from all of the allied officers who had the opportunity to 
view the troops who composed this command, and is attested by 
the remarks of General Pershing relative to discipline and morale 
addressed to the 92d Division at Le Mans, France, just previous to 
their departure for the United States, when he said: 

''The 92d Division has been, without a doubt, a great success, 
and I desire to commend both the officers and men for the high 
state of discipline and the excellent morale which has existed in 
this command during its entire stay in France." 

Brig. Gen. W. H. Hay, of the 184th Brigade, 92d Division, said : 
"I have been with colored troops for 25 years, and I have never 
seen better soldiers than the drafted men who composed this divi- 
sion." Capt. Willis, of the 365th Infantry, said: ''These men are 
the best disciplined and best saluting soldiers that I have ever 
seen." An officer en route between Camp Meade and Washington, 
D. C, on or about February 26, 1919, said, "You just have to give 
it to these colored troops; they have come back with the stuff; there 
has been absolutely no slump in their discipline and saluting, but 
I notice that the white troops have slumped considerably." 



CHAPTER XX 

WITH OUR SOLDIERS IN FRANCE 

Officidl Reports of tlie Only Accredited Negro War Correspondent- 
Ralph W. Tyler, Representative with the A. E. F. of the U. S. 
Committee on Public Informatimi^The Story of the Life and 
Fighting of American Negro Soldiers in France as Seen By 
This Trai/ned Observer. 

One of the most important results of the conference of Negro 
editors held in Washington in June, 1918, was the sending to France 
of a trained newspaper writer of the Negro race with instructions 
to report on the life and the activities of the Negro soldiers as 
he saw things, in order that the Negro press of America might be 
furnished with first-hand and accurate information for their read- 
ers of the precise conditions under which their people were work- 
ing and fighting in France. The announcement of Mr. Tyler's 
appointment was made by the Committee on Public Information on 
September 16, 1918 when the following bulletin was issued to the 
press of the country: 

^ **One of the direct requests of the Editors' Conference in June 
was that a reliable colored news-writer be sent to France to report 
the doings of the colored troops on the western front in France, for 
the information of the anxious millions of colored Americans in 
this country and to the end that the correct story of the valor and 
patriotic devotion of their brethren might be told fully and in a 
sympathetic vein by one of their own blood and kindred. 

**In compliance with this request, the Committee on Public 
Information has designated Ralph W. Tyler, of Columbus, Ohio, 
former Auditor of the Navy Department at Washington, as a regu- 
larly-commissioned war correspondent, to specialize on the conditions 
surrounding the colored troops in France and to make daily reports 
of the activities and engagements in which the colored soldiers are 
prominent. He will be on the staff of General Pershing, commander- 
in-chief of the American Expeditionary Forces overseas. Every 

284 



WITH OUR SOLDIERS IN FRANCE 285 

facility has been provided by Mr. George Creel, director of the 
Committee on Public Information, for the prompt and accurate 
gathering of all facts that may be of interest to the colored people. 

*'Mr. Tyler is the first colored man to be named as a regular 
war correspondent by any Government in the world. He is a native 
of Ohio. For seventeen years he served in various departments 
on the Columbus Evening Dispatch and the Ohio State Journal, 
which gave him experience in the technique of the newspaper craft 
and afforded him opportunity for association with many influential 
newspaper men. This intimate contact with such forces will be 
invaluable to him in his labors as a war correspondent. The fact 
that he has a wide acquaintance with correspondents now at the front, 
will make it possible for him to get news concerning colored troops 
which, perhaps, no other colored correspondent could secure. 

*'The claims of a number of men were fully considered in 
connection with this important assignment, but Mr. Tyler was finally 
selected as the most efficient of those available. Immediately after 
war was declared by the United States on Germany, Mr. Tyler wrote 
the President, tendering his services in any capacity. He has three 
sons, all of whom are at the front in France." 

The plan under which Mr. Tyler worked was to send his reports 
to the Committee on Public Information, which in turn sent them 
to me for editing and for circulation throughout the country. This 
news service unquestionably had a tremendously valuable effect in 
6ringing the truth about conditions in France to the colored people 
of America. As it happened, the war came to an end in less than 
three months after Mr. Tyler's appointment. In that brief time, 
however, and in the short time after the armistice was signed during 
which he remained in France, he wrote and sent to this country the 
most valuable and interesting first-hand reports about our Negro 
soldiers that have come from any source. There is no better way 
in which I can present an adequate picture of the life of our soldiers 
in France than by reproducing here Mr. Tyler's dispatches, begin- 
ning with his graphic account, written after the fighting had ceased, 
of the last great battle of the war and the glorious part which the 
Negro soldiers had in it. This is Mr. Tyler's summing up of tlie 
work of the 92nd Division: 

** Somewhere in France, November 20. They were in it at the 



286 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

finish, as they were at Verdun, Soissons, Chateau-Thierry, Argonne 
and Champagne. At the eleventh hour on the eleventh day of the 
eleventh month in the fifth year of the war, when the signal flashed 
from Eiffel Tower in Paris stopped hostilities, in conformity with 
the terms of the armistice just signed by the Germans, the 92nd 
Division, composed of Colored American Soldiers, occupied the 
point closest to the German city of Metz, the objective of the last 
drive of this war. At the stroke of eleven the cannon stopped, 
the rifles dropped from the shoulders of our Colored soldiers, and 
their machine guns became silent. Then followed a strange, unbe- 
lievable silence as though the world had ceased to exist. It lasted 
but a moment — lasted for the space of time the breath is held. Then, 
among these dark-skinned troopers came a sigh of relief — came jubi- 
lance, as every colored soldier, in true Parisian vernacular, ex- 
claimed: *La Guerre est fini* — the war is over, and immediately 
thoughts turned to dear ones back across the sea, while tears flowed 
down their war-grimmed black faces for their hundreds of comrades 
bivouacing forever in sepulchers over here in France. The wish was 
father to the thought when it was prophesied, back in the states, 
when the first colored troops sailed for Prance, that they would be 
in it at the finish, that their "On to Berlin" slogan would become 
a reality. The armistice stopped their advance into Berlin, but 
they did reach the nearest point to the German city of Metz in what 
was designed as a victorious march to Berlin, and the valor they 
displayed, their courageous, heroic fighting all along that advance, 
won for our men in the 92nd Division high praise from superior 
officers, including the corps and division commander, for they never 
wavered an instant, not even in that awful hell, the Frehaut Woods, 
upon which the big guns of Metz constantly played; which the Sen- 
egalese were unable to hold, but which our colored soldiers from 
America did take, and did hold until the signal came announcing 
the cessation of hostilities.*' Mr. Tyler also wrote: 

Colored Troops in the Final Drive 

**In this last battle of the war to establish world democracy — 
a thing the colored soldiers and their kinsmen back home crave, 
the following colored army units effectively took part : 365th, 366th, 
and 367th Infantry; 349th, 350th, and 351st Field Artillery, and 



WITH OUR SOLDIERS IN FRANCE 287 

167th Machine Gun. All these were combatants in this final drive, 
but in this account of the battle the three non-combatant units, the 
317th Ammunition Train, under the command of a colored major, 
Major Milton T. Dean; the 325th Field Signal Battalion; the staff 
of the 366th Field Hosptial, to which the wounded and gassed 
were rushed, and the 365th and 366th Ambulance Corps, under the 
command, respectively, of Captain Sherman Hickman of Memphis, 
and Captain Charles H. Garvin of Cleveland, must not be over- 
looked or slighted. The 368th Infantry, while they did not get into 
this last action, had however been moved up to Guzoncourt, where 
they were held in reserve. 

**If the reader will get out his map of France, and observe it, 
he will be able to follow the advance of the combatant colored 
troops in this last drive, w^hich must go down in history as the 
final battle of the World War. The 367th, or *' Buffaloes," as they 
were familiarly known, had been holding Villers-sous-Preny for 
many days and up to the time, seven o'clock Sunday morning, 
November 10, they were ordered to advance to Pagny, which 
they did, and held. The advance of this regiment was through 
"Death Valley," exposed to the heavy fire of the German guns 
stationed on the hill skirting the advance. They made the advance 
without a single casualty, and that they did so, considering the fire 
the men were subjected to, appears like a miracle, blind fate, or 
the will of God. They reached their objective in good form, and it 
was providential that they did, for it was from this point they 
were able to open up fire on the German guns, and save the 56th 
Infantry (white) from annihilation, when it had become pocketed 
by a murderous German fire which prevented its making Preny, 
or retreating. 

**This saving of the 56th by the 367th was history repeating 
itself — colored troops saving white troops from destruction in 1918 
as the 10th Cavalry saved the Rough Riders during the Spanish- 
American War in 1898. So splendidly did the 367th colored regi- 
ment advance and perform that they wrung from the Corps and 
Division Commander a letter of praise, in which he paid tribute to 
the regiment's high qualities. Although the "Buffaloes" had for 
weeks been holding the front line trenches in a particularly active 
zone, upon which the Boche rained shells and gas daily and nightly, 



288 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

and althougli from this regiment, almost daily and nightly, raiding 
parties of colored soldiers went out and brought in German prison- 
ers, the regiment was the only colored regiment over here, per- 
haps, that had not been sent into an engagement — something they 
had longed for. The order to advance, at seven o'clock Sunday 
morning the 10th of November, gave them the opportunity they 
had so long waited for impatiently. In spite of the fact that their 
advance was to be through ''Death Valley," a section flanked by 
big German giins massed on the overlooking hills, the order gave 
them more enthusiasm and satisfaction than an order to embark 
for home. When seven o'clock came they were ready to move, 
these ** Buffaloes," and they did move Avith astonishing rapidity, 
absolutely indifferent to the bursting shells,^ which, fortunately, 
fell a little short of them, or caromed over their heads. ''Hail, 
Hail, the Gang's All Here, What the Hell Do We Care?" greeted 
many a Boehe shell as it fell short, or spent its force a few yards 
beyond their advancing line. They established and maintained a 
perfect liaison, and even their Supply Department, under that 
efficient acting supply offiicer, Lieut. McKaine, coordinated per- 
fectly with the line advancing "on to Metz." 

Colored Officer Refuses to Retire 

* ' The 366th had been occupying the line at Vaudieres, prior to 
the Metz advance, and the order was to advance into one section 
of Bois Frehaut and Bois de Voivrotte, which it did in a most 
effective manner, displaying such bravery, in the face of a deadly 
shell fire, and its colored line officers displaying such excellent qual- 
ities of leadership as to merit unstinted praise from the Division 
Commander. In the engagement in the Bois Voivrotte, Lieut. 
Guy W. Canady, of Atlanta, was killed, and Lieut. M. W. Rush, 
of the same city, fell mortally wounded, dying a few days later 
in the hospital, after having lain out in the woods, thus terribly 
wounded, for twenty-four hours. Capt. George A. Holland, of the 
same regiment, also displayed remarkable courage and leader- 
ship. He had been ordered to take a position by his Colonel, and 
hold it at any cost. With his men he took it, but the fire was so 
heavy and murderous that his white major, commanding his bat- 
talion, sent orders to him to retire. This he positively refused to 




Above— Some heroes of the famous 15tli Nt w Vurk, who went away singing and came back 
singing after having earned all the Honors of War. , „ 

Below— The "Stockholm" with her cargo of "Hell Fighters" under command of Colonel Hay- 
ward on deck, just before docking in New York harbor. 



WITH OUR SOLDIERS IN FRANCE 289 

do, sending word back that he had been ordered by his Colonel 
to hold the position taken, and he and his men would hold it until 
the last man fell, unless he had orders from his Colonel to retire. 
Few instances, in the annals of war, are recorded showing equal 
courage, in the face of heavy odds, to that shown by this colored 
officer. Captain Holland, and his company of the 366th who obeyed 
to the letter, the order given to take and to hold a position. As a 
result of the incomparable courage, endurance, and bravery shown 
by this company, twenty-five of them were commended, in General 
Orders, by the Division Commander. 

**The First Battalion of the 365th engaged in this final drive 
of the war, had occupied the front line trenches in the Marbache 
sector. From almost the moment of occupancy, active patrolling 
and raiding into the enemy's lines was ordered, to determine the 
strength of the enemy. Officers and men of this battalion were 
sent out daily and nightly on such missions, and many instances 
of conspicuous bravery were displayed. Several of their number, 
however, were captured, and not a few killed and wounded, but the 
number of the enemy killed, captured, and wounded greatly out- 
numbered the casualties suffered by this First Battalion. 

The 365th in the Bois Frehaut 

*'The 365th, prior to the last drive, had been occupying the front 
line trenches near Dieulouard, that town being the regimental 
headquarters. It had orders to advance into, take and hold a 
position in the Bois Frehaut. It happened that, for one reason or 
another, all the white officers of this regiment, including the Colonel 
commanding, and save the Major conmaanding the 2nd Battalion, 
had been incapacitated for action, and so the 2nd Battalion wont 
into action with but one white officer, the Major. No unit in the 
advance had a more difficult position to take and hold than the 
position assigned to the 2nd Battalion of the 365th. The Bois- 
Frehaut was a network of barbed-wire entanglements, and the big 
guns in Metz had nothing to do but sweep the woods with a mur- 
derous fire, which they did most effectively. French and Senegal- 
ese in turn had failed to hold these woods, for it was worse than 
a hell— it had become the sepulcher of hundreds. I (Ralph W. 
Tyler) was over and through these woods; I saw the mass of 



290 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

barbed- wire entanglements; I saw the nests in tlie trees in which 
Germans had camouflaged machine guns that rained a fire upon 
the Allied troops. 

**It is impossible to describe this scene of carnage. The order 
to the colored men of the 365th was to "take and hold," although 
it was believed, almost to a certainty, that they could not hold it, 
even if they did take it. But they did take and hold it, and these 
men of the 2nd Battalion, with Spartan-like courage; with an en- 
durance unbelievable, would be holding the position at this writing 
had not the Armistice been signed, or had they not received orders 
to retire. In these woods, at the head of his company. Captain 
Boutte, and the other line officers, fought tenaciously, heroically — ■ 
so heroically that the Major commanding stated to me that the 
world had never produced gamer fighters than the colored men 
who made up his battalion of the 365th Infantry. The casualty list, 
because of the savage nature of the resistance the Germans made, 
because of the heavy, well directed big guns and machine gun fire, 
was large. But the 365th did take and did hold that which the 
fighting Senegalese could not hold after they had taken it. 

"After sixteen days of activity on this front, the battalion was 
ordered in support for a week, and on November 5th it was 
ordered to the front line trenches in the Mousson sector, an in- 
tensely active front, that was shelled daily and nightly. On the 
memorable morning of November 10, 1918, the 1st Battalion was 
ordered to the "alert," as support for the 2nd Battalion of the 
same regiment, then engaged in the last drive. On the evening of 
the 10th it was ordered to attack Champey and LaCote Hill, a 
very strongly fortified German position. The battalion moved to 
the attack at five o 'clock Sunday evening, entering the position from 
the rear of the 2nd Battalion's position. A very hea^^ gas-shell 
and high explosive barrage laid down by the Germans checked 
the advance, and the battalion was ordered to remain in its position 
for the night. 

"At five o'clock the nest (Monday) morning, the 11th of No- 
vember, the battalion moved into position for the resumption of the 
attack. Its line moved into position under cover of our artillery 
barrage, which began at 4:30 a. m. With two companies in the 
front line and two in support, the 1st Battalion advanced through 



WITH OUR SOLDIERS IN FRANCE 291 

the difficult woods, Bois de Frehaut. It advanced with machine-gun 
support until the northern edge of the woods was reached, over- 
looking Champey. At this point the advance was met by a most 
terrific artillery bombardment and machine-gun fire delivered by 
the Gei-mans stationed on the heights of LaCote Hill. The fight- 
ing at this point was bitter. Men and officers, however, remained 
in action and held their line under extremely adverse conditions. 
Up to this point the line had advanced, in the face of a terrific 
fire, about 400 yards, forcing many machine guns of the enemy to 
retire, and capturing a number of others along with much material. 
This action continued until 10:45 a. m., at which time the ** Cease 
Fire" was sounded, which ended the hostilities of this titanic war. 
**The casualties of the 1st Battalion of the 365th in this engage- 
ment were two officers wounded and 61 enlisted men killed, 
wounded, and gassed. Among the wounded officers was Lieut. 
Charles H. Fearing, formerly of Washington, D. C, who was slightly 
cut in the arm by shrapnel. Lieut. Fearing, but a few days before, 
had escaped death most miraculously. 

Work of the Ammunition Train 

"Distributing the many tons of ammunition along the route of 
the advance, and moving it up to the American combatants in this 
final drive for the 92nd Division, was a big task, but was success- 
fully done by a colored Ammunition Train, under the command of 
Major Milton T. Dean, a colored officer. Arranging the telegraphic 
and sig-nal communications between the various units, was a dan- 
gerous — ^most dangerous — and big achievement, and this was done 
by the 325th Colored Field Signal Battalion. Caring for and at- 
tending to the hundreds of wounded and gassed, as they were 
rushed back to the field hospital in ambulances driven by colored 
men and commanded by colored ambulance commanders, was the 
big task of those sacrificing and sympathetic colored surgeons on 
the staff of the 366th Field Hospital. 

**I was at the front when the drive began — this the last battlo 
of the world war. I was thrilled, and inspired by the enthusiasm 
of our men, and their eagerness to get into battle. The thundering 
of the big guns, the terrific explosion of death-carrying shells — 
hell opening up — served only to inspire our colored soldiers with 



292 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

a grim determination to maintain the race's traditional fighting 
reputation. As I retraced my steps over the battlefield, the awful 
field of carnage, and saw the havoc German shells had wrought; 
saw lifeless, blood-bespattered bodies of colored soldiers lying on 
the dark and bloody field; saw the maimed and mangled living, 
the natural feeling of sorrow, of anguish, of pain, was made en- 
durable only by the thought that our men — our colored soldiers — 
were in it to the end, that they fought like heroes, died like heroes, 
died like martyrs. And then there was the radiant hope — ^perhaps 
they fought and fell, in the last battle of the greatest war ever 
waged for civilization, NOT in vain. 

**As the colored troops, in the last battle of the war, the drive 
on Metz, were the first to reach the nearest point to the city of 
Metz, so it was colored troops, the old 15th New York, that first 
reached the point farthest east and nearest to the Rhine in the 
battle on the Meuse. They were in Alsace, and their line ran 
through Thann and across the railroad leading to Colmar.'* Mr. 
Tyler continues: 

As to Transfers of Officers 

** Distance lends enchantment to the view, and likewise, not 
infrequently, to some degree, distance exaggerates a rule into an 
exception. The transfer of colored commissioned officers from 
combatant to non-combatant units is, I know, regarded by a very 
considerable number of colored people in the States as an * ex- 
ception.* I am aware that information has been, or soon will be, 
received back in the States that a number of colored officers were 
recently given assignments to casualty camps, and that white offi- 
cers were assigned to their places in the line. German propaganda 
is sure to convey these transfers as an 'exception' prompted by 
racial prejudice. To one who is here on the scene, and who knows 
of countless number of white officers who are daily being trans- 
ferred to units and assignments which they would not themselves 
have selected, and of some having been peremptorily shorn of their 
rank on the field of battle, the 'rule' carries no evidence of 'ex- 
ception' due to racial discrimination. So far as I hnve been able 
io ascertain all transfers are 7nade for the good of the service, 



WITH OUE SOLDIERS IN FRANCE " 293 

regardless as to whether the ones transferred are white or colored. 

''The number of colored commissioned oflScers discharged, 
or transferred from their units, has been negligible when compared 
with the number of white officers honorably {?) and dishonorably 
discharged and transferred, even when the proportionate number of 
each is considered. 

''This is war over here — actual, not theoretical war, and its 
prosecution to the earliest conclusion is so urgent that command- 
ing generals have no time to consider racial problems, even if they 
were, ordinarily, so inclined to do. To 'win the war' as speedily 
as possible, with the best available units and officers, appears to 
prompt all allied commanders, Americans, French, and British, 
and if some few colored officers, like hundreds of white officers, fall 
into the discard, or receive new assigimients, the race back in the 
States must not too quickly assume that race discrimination was 
the actuating factor. I have learned of instances, over here, where 
white colonels who had aspired to become brigadier-generals have 
lost the insig-nia of colonelcy. I have learned of many w^hite officers 
whose self-estimate made them available for conmianding and di- 
recting attacks in battle who have been, much to their chagrin, 
given desk assignments. 

' ' Just prior to a recent engagement, it is reported, a number of 
commissioned colored officers were transferred from their units 
to casualty and other assignments. Had they not been transferred 
just when they were some of them would have their names now 
appearing in the list of 'Killed in Battle.* They, doubtless, 
would have as vvillingly filled a martyr's grave as they, unwillingly 
and uncomplainingly , accepted other assignments. 

"The fact is patent to all who are conversant with the war 
over here that casualty camp assignments nro as necessitous as 
field assignments; that the stevedore regiments make possible the 
success of the combatant regiments; that the swivel-offico-chair 
officer performs an important and necessitous function. Secretary 
of War Baker, although a civilian, performs a duty, the non-per- 
formance of wliich ^vould have made it impossible for General Per- 
shing to achieve glory over here for the United States. I simply 
want to impress upon my race, back in the States, that in this war 



294 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

'the hewer of wood and the drawer of water' is as necessary to 
victory as the man who adjusts the distance for the 75-centimeter 
giin, and that when the world has been made safe for democracy 
it will be impossible to deny honor to all who helped to achieve 
victory, even to those who, having received no assignment in the 
theater of war, cheerfully stood and waited for an opportunity to 
serve, even if only in some humble capacity. 

''The necessarily quick decisions made on a battlefield, or im- 
mediately prior to entering battle, where victory hangs as mucli on 
strategy as on man-power and equipment, will ofttimes disillusion 
even the theorist who employs platitudes, at a safe distance far 
behind the battle front, rather than bullets and shrapnel with which 
wars are won. I am now here where life is but a gamble, and the 
flow of blood is but commonplace, and know whereof I speak, and 
knowing the necessity of war here at the seat of it, I am willing 
to stand or fall by the foregoing statement, and in the assurance 
that our race is actually winning glory over here in France." 

Negroes in the Final Fighting 

Following is Mr. Tyler's report of the final fighting, written 
on the day before the Armistice took effect: 

''In the battle raging today in the American advance toward 
Metz, the 92nd Division played a big role. Not only were its black 
infantry and machine gun units up at the front, in the thickest of 
it, but its artillery, the 167th Brigade of Field Artillery, was on 
the line, behaving like veterans, laying down a barrage for the 
infantry that was marvelously effective; and they established a 
reputation which has been made by but few, among French, British 
or Americans, of laying down a barrage that did not entrap, and 
fatally so, their own men. 

"This has been a glorious day for the black soldiers. The 
fighting is still on, and I have just received the intimation that 
the casualty toll may be heavy — depressingly so, for Metz, and the 
sector around about it, is strongly fortified by the Germans, and 
resistance determined. Metz is considered by experts to be the 
strongest fortified city in the world, almost as impregnable as the 
fortificcions of the Dardanelles. But the Americans are hammer- 



WITH OUR SOLDIERS IN FRANCE 295 

iiig away at it, and only the signing of the Armistice terms by 
the Germans, by eleven o'clock tomorrow, will save Metz from fall- 
ing. Even as it is, colored soldiers are now on German soil. 

''The husky invaders include the colored soldiers of the 92nd 
Division, embracing the 'Buffaloes' or 367th, the 365th and 366th 
-Regiments of Infantry, and the 167th Brigade of Field Artillery, 
composed of the 349th, 350th and 351st Eegiments and the 317th 
Trench Mortar Battery, and all are conducting themselves with 
a fortitude and valor that have won for them high praise from their 
commanding officers every time they have been put to any test.'* 

And here is Mr. Tyler's report on the very day of the Armis- 
tice, November 11, 1918 : 

"The colored troops who took part in the last battle of this 
war acquitted themselves splendidly, fought valiantly, and with such 
precision and order as to earn for them high praise. Reminiscent 
stories of this engagement will be coming to light for weeks — even 
months — after this battle has long been a matter of history, for, 
as in all big battles, the reverberations of the big guns, the rattle 
of musketry, and the smoke of the battle must have died away be- 
fore the accounting can be made. There is one remarkable, even 
astonishing, record made in this last drive, a record that either 
establishes the fact that God was with the colored regiments en- 
gaged, as a protector, or that Fate is not merely a fetish, for the 
'Buffaloes' suffered not a single casualty — not one wounded or 
killed. Just how they could have advanced along the difficult line 
given them; flanked by heavy German guns — guns from whose rain 
of hell-made and death-charged shells it seems incredible that any 
could escape, is beyond the conjecture of man, and yet they made 
their advance, gained their objective, and held it without the loss 
of a single man. The 366th, 365th, 351st Machine Gun, and 167th 
Field Artillery, all colored, engaged in this final battle of the war, 
suffered a casualty which, in the aggregate, was but slight, and 
yet they were in the thick of it, and to the finish when the note was 
sounded that, under the terms of the Armistice signed this morning 
by the Germans, hostilities cease. 

"It will be gratifying to the colored people to know that the 
colored soldiers and officers have acquitted themselves splendidly, 



296 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

from the first engagement into which the 372nd was rushed soon 
after landing to the final drive 'on to Metz' in which three colored 
regiments and colored field artillery took part. And, claim what 
they will, in every one of these engagements in which colored units 
took part their colored officers led mth commendable bravery 
and efficiency, and the soldiers in line followed with such a fidelity, 
loyalty, devotion, and dash as to forever set at rest the claim that 
colored men are incapable to command as officers, and that colored 
soldiers best fight under white officers. The drive 'on to Metz' 
which concluded the four years' titanic war affixes 'finis' to the 
argument put forth by some as to the loyalty of the race to their 
own leaders. 

"The effect of the signing, and promulgating in the camps of 
our colored soldiers, of the Armistice today, was like magic in 
this Marbache sector, where more than 30,000 combatant colored 
troops are centered. Just out of the trenches, just out of the 
fierce and bloody battle, they began singing and cheering, and 
nearly every Frenchman they met, it mattered not the sex, greeted 
them, these bronzed, khaki-garbed troops, with an embrace and the 
exhilarating *La guerre est fini,' meaning 'The war is finished.' 
This evening, as I am writing this account, colored soldiers are 
moving up and down, back and forth, over the streets of this little 
French town at the front, cheering and singing. Their repertoire 
of songs and hymns, exultingly and plaintively sung, from 'Down 
on the Suwanee River,' 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,' to 'Hail, Hail, 
the G-ang's All Here,' interrupted ever and anon, although strictly 
forbidden, with the firing of a revolver or gun, tell how happy 
they are over the conclusion of peace. And many of them — ^most 
of them, if not all — are anxiously awaiting the order for embarka- 
tion back to America, although they must realize that, of a neces- 
sity, many of them will witness the blooming of next June's roses 
in France, rather than back in the States. 

"It is perhaps one of the most glorious epochs in the history 
of the race, since the issuing of the Emancipation Proclamation, 
that the race, represented by three regiments — crack fighting regi- 
ments — and a field artillery unit, was engaged in the last battle 
of the war; that the race was among the first of the Allied troops 



WITH OUR SOLDIERS IN FRANCE 297 

to go over the top and set foot on German soil after more than 
four years' courageous fighting. Here are some of the expressions 
with which colored privates gave vent to their happiness at the 
war being over, in this sector last night: 

** 'We done signed another Emancipation Proclamation!' 
*' 'That ''New Freedom" must come — we have won it.' 
" 'We came to France and won a man's chance!' " 

How France Received the Negro Soldiers 

Let Mr. Tyler's fascinating and gossipy narrative of the life 
of the American Negro troops in France close with a reproduction 
of the tribute paid them by the French people themselves. The 
following is a translation of an article written by a talented French 
woman and published in the leading newspaper of one of the large 
French cities: 

"A peaceful town, far from the front. A beautiful June day 
full of perfume of roses; resplendent summer freely bursting into 
bloom, indifferent to human plaints, frets, and agitations. A boy 
of ten years, head like the urchin of the year one, runs through 
the streets crying: 'The Americans are coming to B ; the in- 
habitants are invited to greet them.' 

"The Americans! For months they had been discussed; they 
had been expected, and there was great curiosity; groups of people 
go down to the public square of the to^vn, where they see upon our 
white streets the first ranks of the Allied troops. But what a sur- 
prise! They are black soldiers! Black soldiers? There is great 
astonishment, a little fear. The rural population, not well in- 
formed, knows well the Negro of Africa, but those from America's 
soil, the country of the classical type, characterized by the cold, 
smooth white face; that from America could come this dark troupe 
— none could believe his own eyes. 

"They dispute among themselves; they are a little irritated; 
some of the women become afraid ; one of them confides to me that 
she feels the symptoms of an attack of indigestion. Smiling, re- 
assurably, 'lady with all too emotional stomach, quiet yourself! 
They do not eat human flesh; two or three days from now you 
will be perfectly used to them. ' I said two or three days, but from 



298 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

that very evening the ice is broken. Natives and foreigners smile 
at each other, and try to understand each other. The next day we 
see the little children in the arms of the huge Negroes, confidently 
pressing their rosy cheeks to the cheeks of ebony, while their 
mothers look on "with approbation. 

**A deep sympathy is in store for these men, which, yesterday, 
was not surmised. Very quickly it is seen they have nothing of the 
savage in them, but, on the other hand, one could not find a soldier 
more faultless in his bearing, and in his manners more affable, or 
more delicate than these children of the sun, whose ancestors 
dreamed under the wonderful nights along murmuring streams. 
We admire their forms — ^handsome, vigorous and athletic; their 
intelligent and loyal faces with their large gleaming eyes, at times 
dreamy, and with a bit of sadness in them. 

*^Far removed is the time when their inauspicious influence 
was felt upon the digestive organs of the affrighted lady. Now one 
honors himself to have them at his table. He spends hours in long 
talks with them; with a great supply of dictionaries and manuals 
of conversation. The white mothers of France weep to see the 
photographs of the colored mothers, and display the portraits 
of their soldier sons. The fiancees of our own 'Poilus' become 
interested in the fiancees across the sea, in their dress, in their 
head dress, and in everything which makes woman resemble woman 
in every clime. Late at night the workers of the field forget their 
fatigue as they hear arise, in the peaceful night, the melancholy 
voices which call up to the memory of the exile his distant country, 
America. In the lanes along the flowery hedges, more than one 
group of colored American soldiers fraternize with our people, while 
the setting sun makes blue the neighboring hills, and gently the 
song of night is awakened. 

**And then these soldiers who had become our friends depart. 
One evening sad adieus are exchanged. Adieu? How we wish 
they may be only *Au revoirs.' Promises to correspond, to return 
when furloughs are granted. Here and there tears fall, and when, 
the next day, the heavy trucks roll off in the chilly morning, carry- 
ing away to the front our exotic guests, a veritable sadness 
seizes us. 



WITH OUR SOLDIERS IN FRANCE 299 

** Soldier friends, our hearts, our wishes, go with you. That 
destiny may be merciful to you; that the bullets of the enemy may 
spare you. And if any of you should never see your native home 
again, may the soil of France give you sweet repose. 

** Soldiers, who arrived among us one clear June day, redolent 
with the scent of roses, you will always live in our hearts." 



CHAPTEB XXI 

NEGRO MUSIC THAT STIRRED FRANCE 

Recognition of the Value of Music hy the U. S. War Department— 
The Patriotic Music of Colored Americans — Lieutenant James 
Europe and His Famous "Jazz'' Band — Other Leaders and 
Aggregations of Musicians — Enthusi<ism of the French People 
and Officials for American Music as Interpreted hy These Col- 
ored Artists and Their Bandsm,en. 

**You cannot defeat a singing nation," a keen-witted observer 
has said, in noting the victory spirit engendered by the martial 
music, the patriotic songs and the stirring melodies of hearth 
and home that have moved the souls of men to action on all the 
battlefields of history. 

*'Send me more singing regiments," cabled General Pershing, 
and Admiral Mayo sent frequent requests that a song leader organ- 
ize singing on every battleship of the Atlantic Fleet. 

Since ''the morning stars sang together" in Scriptural nar- 
rative, music has exerted a profound influence upon mankind, 
be it in peace or in war, in gladness or in sorrow, or in the tender 
sentiment that makes for love of country, affection for kindred or 
the divine passion for '*ye ladye fair." Music knows no land or 
clime, no season or circumstance, and no race, creed or clan. It 
speaks the language universal, and appeals to all peoples with a 
force irresistible, and no training in ethics or science is necessary 
to reach the common ground that its philosophy instinctively 
creates in the human understanding. 

The "War Department was conscious of this and gave practical 
application to its theory that music makes a soldier ''fit to fight" 
when it instituted, through the Commission on Training Camp 
Activities, a systematic program of musical instruction throughout 
the American Army at the home cantonments and followed up the 
work overseas. It was the belief that every man became a better 

300 



NEGRO MUSIC THAT STIRRED FRANCE 301 

warrior for freedom when his mind could be diverted from the 
dull routine of camp life by arousing his higher nature by song, 
and that he fared forth to battle with a stouter heart when his steps 
were attuned to the march by bands that drove out all fear of bodily 
danger and robbed * * grim-visaged war" of its terrors. Skilled 
song leaders were detailed to the various camps and cantonments 
here and abroad, and bands galore were brought into service for 
inspiration and cheer. 

The emotional nature of the Negro fitted him for this musical 
program. The colored American was a ** close up" in every picture 
from the start to the finish and was a conspicuous figure in every 
scenario, playing with credit and distinction alike in melody or 
with the musket. 

No instrumentality was more potent than music in offsetting 
the propaganda of the wily German agents, who sought to break 
down the loyalty of the Negro. The music he knew was intensely 
American — in sentiment and rhythm. It saturated his being — and 
all the blandishments of the enemy were powerless to sway him 
from the flag he loved. His grievances were overshadowed by the 
realization that the welfare of the nation was menaced and that his 
help was needed. American music harmonized with the innate 
patriotism of the race, and the majestic sweep of ''The Star- 
Spangled Banner" or the sympathetic appeal of *'My Country, 
'Tis of Thee," were sufiicient to counteract the sinister efforts of 
the missionaries of the Hohenzollerns to move him from his moor- 
ings. 

No labor is ever so onerous that it can bar music from the soul 
of black folk. This race sings at work, at play and in every mood. 
Visitors to any army camp found the Negro doing musical ' * stunts ' ' 
of some kind from reveille to taps — every hour, every minute of 
the day. All the time the trumpeters were not blowing out actual 
routine bugle calls, they were somewhere practicing them. Mouth- 
organs were going, concertinas were being drawn back and forth, 
and guitars, banjos, mandolins and whatnot were in use — playing 
all varieties of music, from the classic, like *' Lucia," "Poet and 
Peasant," and ''II Trovatore" to the folk-songs and the rollicking 
"jazz." Music is indeed the chief est outlet of the Negro's emo- 



302 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

tions, and the state of his soul can best be detennined by the type 
of melody he pours forth. 

Some writer has said that a handful of pipers at the head of 
a Scotch regiment could lead that regiment down the mouth of a 
cannon. It is not doubted that a Negro regiment could be made to 
duplicate the ** Charge of the Light Brigade" at Balaklava — "into 
the mouth of hell," as Tennyson puts it, if one of their regimental 
bands should play — as none but a colored band can play, the ^dvaci- 
ous strains of ''There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight." 

The Negro's love of home is an integral part of his nature, 
and is exemplified in the themes he plaintively crooned in camp on 
both sides of the ocean. Such melodies as ''Carry Me Back to Old 
Virginia," "My Old Kentucky Home," "In the Evening by de 
Moonlight," and "Suwanee River" recalled memories of the "old 
folks at home," and kept his patriotism alive, for he hoped to re- 
turn to them some day and swell their hearts with pride by reason 
of the glorious record he made at the front. The Negro is essentially 
religious, and his deep spiritual temperament is vividly illustrated 
by the joy he finds in "harmonizing" such ballads of ancient days 
as "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "Steal Away to Jesus," "Standin' 
in the Need of Prayer," "Every Time I Feel the Spirit," "I Wan' 
To Be Ready," and 'Roll, Jordan, Roll." The Negro is also an 
optimist, whether he styles himself by that high-sounding title or 
not, and the sincerity of his "make the best of it" disposition is 
noted in the fervor he puts into those uplifting gems, "Pack Up 
Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile," 
"There's a Long, Long Trail," "Keep the Home Fires Burning," 
and "Good-bye Broadway, Hello France." 

Just as the Negro folk-songs — or songs of war, interpreted mth 
the characteristic Negro flavor — stirred all France and gave poilu 
and populace a taste of the real American music, the marvelous 
"jazz bands" kept their feet patting and their shoulders "eagle- 
rocking" to its infectious motion. High officials are said to have 
been literally "carried away" with the "jazz" music furnished by 
the colored bands "over there" during the war. General Petain 
is said to have paid a visit, at the height of the hostilities, to a 
sector in which there were American troops and had "the time of 
his life" listening to a colored band playing the entrancing "jazz" 



NEGRO MUSIC THAT STIRRED FRANCE 308 

music, with some Negro dance stunts in keeping with the spirit of 
the melodies. He warmly congratulated the colored leader upon 
the excellence of the work of his organization, and thanked him 
for the enjoyable entertaimnent that had been given him. The 
stolid Briton is scarcely less susceptible to the *'jazz" than his 
volatile French brother, for when another colored band from "The 
States" went to London to head a parade of American and English 
soldiers, and halted at Buckingham Palace, it is said that King 
George V and Queen Mary heard the lively airs with undisguised 
enthusiasm and were loath to have the players depart for the park 
where they were scheduled for a concert, with a dance engagement, 
under British military control, to follow. The colored bands scored 
heavily with the three great Allied Powers of Europe by rendering 
with a brilliant touch and matchless finish their national anthems, 
**God Save the Queen,'* "La Marseillaise" and the "Marcia 
Eeale." 

"Filling France Full of Jazz" 

In an illuminating article, abounding in wit and calling for 
descriptive powers far out of the ordinary, Mr. Charles Welton, 
in The World Magazine, New York City, March 30, 1919, using 
the unique title in the subhead above, tells much of interest con- 
cerning the experiences of Lieutenant James Reese Europe and 
his 369th Regiment Band, which is said to have "jazzed its way 
through France" and filled up all the vacant spaces in "No Man's 
Land" with the remnants of notes broken by shells and shrapnel 
as the one hundred master "jazzers" forced their lines to the very 
banks of the Rhine, where the world woke up and found them on 
the day the armistice was signed. Mr. Welton not only gives a 
clever recital of the way the Europe aggregation "jazzed," but 
pictures quite realistically the enthusiasm of the French people and 
the army officials for American music of this new type, as inter- 
preted by these colored artists. 

The writer tells engagingly the story of how "Jim" Europe 
spent his early boyhood on his native heath. Mobile, Alabama, con- 
sorting with fiddles and improvised musical instruments until he 
became acquainted with an upright piano, helped on by a father who 
was himself something of a sound manipulator on all kinds of "con- 
traptions." Outgrowing his Mobile environs, or "down in 'the 



304 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

sticks,' '' as some facetious Northerners are fond of styling the 
South, the youngster migrated to Washington, where he rapidly 
advanced in all branches of music and learned to play upon practic- 
ally every instrument known to an orchestra or brass band and 
became a director of musical organizations, vocal and instrumental. 
One of Lieut. Europe's particular friends and admirers was 
Gol. William Hayward, who had fostered the development of the 15th 
New York Regiment throughout its long struggle for recognition as 
an integral part of the New York National Guard, and at the en- 
trance of the United States into the war, Col. Hayward became the 
proud commander of the recruited and accepted **15th,'* officially 
known as the 369th United States Infantry, which later achieved 
international fame as *'Hell Fighters" and led the Allied van to the 
Ehine as the curtain fell upon the greatest tragedy in the annals 
of the world. 

How Europe and His "Jazz Outfit" Broke Into the War 

Following up the meteoric career of "Jim" Europe, Mr. Wel- 
ton goes on to say: 

"Then the war broke out, and Europe broke in. If he had been 
built that way, he could have ducked it and stayed in town with his 
bank deposits; but he couldn't figure it. He told Col. Hayward that he 
was ready to follow or even go ahead of the flag to the last ounce of 
Jazz, and there were ninety-nine others like him. So the band was 
signed up and sworn in, and Daniel C. Keid and some others made a 
pool of enough thousands of dollars to supply instruments that would 
stand the wear and tear of war and not go bad if dented up with shrapnel 
and such like. 

"Among the men who slipped into olive drab with the boss, come 
weal, come woe, were Sergeant Noble Sissle, who played the cornet like 
anything and knows all the tricks of drum majoring, and sings like a lark, 
and writes verses by the yard; Herbert and Steve, whistlers and oh! such 
drummers; Raphael Hernandez, baritone saxophoner; Ward Andrews, bet- 
ter known as Trombone Andrews; EHge Rijos, clarinetist, and Frank De 
Bronte, who next to Europe himself is called the king of Jazz. The rest 
of the band — the marimbaphones, the double B-flat helicons, the bunch of 
French horns and all the rest clear down to the cymbals, were manned by 
other eminent operators, making what is called a toot ensemble at once 
hope-reviving and awe-inspiring. 




i5i <a-.- 




GROUP OF OFFICERS OF THE 370TH 

Reading- from Left to Right — Top — 1st Lt. Norman Garrett ; Capt. John H. Palton, 2nd Batt. 1st 
Lt. Michael Browning, Machine Gun No. 2. 

Center — Capt. Spencer C. Dixon, Med. Corps ; Major Charles H. Hunt, 2nd Battalion ; Capt. Lib- 
burn Jackson, Machine Gun No. 2. 

Bottom — 1st Lt. Robt. C. Chavis : 1st Lt. Benote H. Lee ; 2nd Lt. Frank Corbin, all of the 370th 
Infantry (formerly old 8th Illinois). 



NEGRO ^lUSIC THAT STIRRED FRANCE 305 

"To understand jazz, it is well to know that it isn't merely a series 
of uncontrollable spasms or outbursts of enthusiasm scattered through a 
composition and discharged on the four winds, first by one wing and then 
by another of the band. Of course if a player feels an attack of some- 
thing which he believes to be a jazz novelty rumbling in his system it 
is not the Europe rule to make him choke it back and thus run the risk 
of cheating the world out of a good thing. Any player can try anything 
once. If it doesn't come out a fliv on harmony it can remain as a toot 
to be used whenever there's a place where it won't crowd regular notes 
over the bars. 

"The basic fundamental of jazz, however, is created by means of a 
variety of cones inserted point down in the bells of the horns. These 
cones are of two kinds. One is of metal and the other of leather. The 
leather cones are usually soaked in water before the band goes out for 
a blow. The metal cones muffle and modify the natural tones of the in- 
struments and make them come across with new sound values. 

When a leather cone is wrung out and fitted into the vestibule of a 
horn, and the man back of the works contributes the best that is in 
him, it is somewhat difficult to explain what happens, in mere words. 
You get it with both ears, and. almost see it. The cone being wet, the 
sound might be called liquefied harmony. It runs and ripples, then has 
a sort of choking sensation; next it takes on the musical color of 
Niagara Falls at a distance, and subsides to a trout brook nearby. The 
brassiness of the horn is changed, and there is sort of a throbbing nasal 
effect, half moan, half hallelujah. Get me? 

"Having set this down, we may now land with the band at Brest, 
France. 

"The first thing that Jim Europe's outfit did when it got ashore 
wasn't to eat. It wanted France to know that it was present, so it 
blcAv some plain ordinary jazz over the town. Twenty minutes before 
the 369th disembarked, Brest wasn't at all la-la, so to speak; but as 
soon as Europe had got to work, that part of France could see that hope 
wasn't entirely dead. 

"From Brest the Europe outfit went to St. Nazaire, sowing jazz 
selections over the agricultural terrain and bunching bits of it in the 
cantons en route. There was a rest center at St. Nazaire. Europe went 
to the center of the center, and for two months all he had to do was 
to help the boys rest by providing a brand of soothing syrup. All the 
sects in all the sectors round about that had carfare commuted into town 
and lolled in the rest zone. The city council adopted resolutions and the 
prefect delivered an euiogiura right at Noble Sissle and the backstop 
of snare drums. 



306 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

"A call for help from Aix-les-Bains took the band to that resort. 
It arrived just in time to capture the casino in a night attack. On 
all fronts at this time soldiers that had been dodging minenwerfers were 
buoyed by the promise that Jim Europe had enough jazz in stock to 
last until the war was over, over there. Troops suffering with aches were 
hurried down to Aix — honest, they were — and the band did the rest. 

Equally Handy With Trombones or Machine Guns. 

"Between concerts, so to express it, the 369th band would get from 
under the coils of horns, unsling its drums, and load up with machine 
guns and go into the deep and mussy trenches and practice on the un- 
happy Avretches on the other side of no man 's land. Europe himself 
was the first colored officer to rest elbows against a first-line trench in 
one of the uncomfortable bois countries. He -did solo work with a ma- 
chine gun forty times heavier than a trombone, and actually got it to 
working in syncopated time. If we ever have another war and it could 
be fought exclusively by syncopating, Jim Europe would have a Major 
General's rating." 

The people everywhere turned out to hear the 369th Regimental 
Band, and its magic influence gave proof to the assertion by its 
devotees that *'JAZZ WON THE WAR." The return of ''Jim" 
Europe's band to America, when it led the imposing parade up 
Fifth Avenue, February 17, 1919, the day the gallant 369th was 
welcomed home by a grateful nation, was an occasion that will live 
in history. 

Sergeant Noble Sissle, who served as the regimental drum 
major of the 369th, is one of tlie musicians whose work has ' * stood 
out" in the estimation of the people on the other side of the water. 
Noble Sissle was reared in Indianapolis, Ind., which boasts of 
having furnished more real talent to the colored musical and dra- 
matic world than any other spot on earth, and his father. Rev. 
George A. Sissle, was a one-time pastor of Simpson M. E. Chapel 
in the Hoosier capital, as well as prominent in ministerial circles 
at many points in Ohio and Kentucky. Young Sissle has won an 
enviable reputation as a tenor soloist, composer and pianist, and 
is regarded as one of Lieutenant Europe's most dependable aids, 
both in the Clef Club in New York and in the regimental band work 
overseas. 

Sergeant Sissle has made a study of the effect of Yankee rag- 



NEGRO MUSIC THAT STIRRED FRANCE 307 

time, as interpreted by the colored artists, on French audiences, 
and advantage may be taken of this opportunity to give a summary 
of his impressions, as prepared for interested friends ''over here." 
It covers much heretofore unknown matter in connection with the 
marvelous 369th Infantry Band and the intricacies of ragtime 
or *'jazz" construction in general. Sergeant Sissle wrote, in part, 
as follows: 

"When our country was dance-mad a few years ago, we quite agreed 
with the popular Broadway song composer who wrote: 
'Syncopation rules the nation 
You can't get away from it.' 

"But if you could see the effect our good old 'jazz' melodies have 
on the people of every race and creed you would change the word 'nation' 
quoted above to 'world.* 

"Inasmuch as the press seems to have kept the public well informed 
of our band's effort to make the boys happy in this land where everybody 
speaks everything but English, I will endeavor to start off with a few 
notes concerning James Reese Europe, its organizer and conductor. This 
Lieutenant Europe is the same Europe whose orchestras are considered 
to have done a goodly share toward making syncopated music popular 
on Broadway. Having been associated with Lieutenant Europe in civil 
life during his 'jazz bombardment' on the delicate, classical, musical ears 
of New York's critics, and having watched 'The Walls of Jericho' come 
tumbling down, I was naturally curious to see what would be the effect 
of a 'real American tune,' as Victor Herbert calls our Southern synco- 
pated tunes, as played by a real American band. 

"At last the opportunity came, and it was at a town in France where 
there were no American troops, and our audience, with the exception of 
an American general and his staff, was all French people. I am sure the 
greater part of the crowd had never heard a ragtime number. So what 
happened can be taken as a test of the success of our music in this coun- 
try, where all is sadness and sorrow. 

"The program started with a French march, followed by favorite 
overtures and vocal selections by our male quartette, all of which were 
heartily applauded. The second part of the program opened with 'The 
Stars and Stripes Forever,' the great Sousa march, and before the last 
note of the martial ending had been finished the house was ringing with 
applause. Next followed an arrangement of 'Plantation Melodies* and 
then came the fireworks, 'The Memphis Blues.' 

"Lieutenant Europe, before raising his baton, twitched his shoulders, 



308 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

apparently to be sure that his tight-fitting military coat would stand the 
strain, each musician shifted his feet, the players of brass horns blew the 
saliva from their instruments, the drummers tightened their drumiieads,, 
every one settled back in their seats, half closed their eyes, and when the 
baton came down with a swoop that brought forth a soul-rousing crash 
both director and musicians seemed to forget their surroundings; they 
were lost in scenes and memories. Comet and clarinet players began to 
manipulate notes in that typical rhythm (that rhythm which no artist 
has ever been able to put down on paper) ; as the drummers struck their 
stride their shoulders began shaking in time to their syncopated raps. 

"Then, it seemed, the whole audience began to sway, dignified French 
officers began to pat their feet along with the American general, who, 
temporarily, had lost his style and grace. Lieutenant Europe was no 
longer the Lieutenant Europe of a moment ago, but once more Jim 
Europe, who a few months ago rocked New York with his syncopated 
baton. His body swayed in willowy motions an-d his head was bobbing as 
it did in days when tepsichorean festivities reigned supreme. He turned 
to the trombone players, who sat impatiently waiting for their cue to 
have a 'Jazz spasm,' and they drew their slides out to the extremity and 
jerked them back with that characteristic crack. 

**The audience could stand it no longer; the *Jazz germ' hit them, 
and it seemed to find the vital spot, loosening all muscles andj causing 
what is known in America as an * Eagle Rocking Fit.' 'There now,' I 
said to myself. 'Colonel Hayward has brought his band over here and 
started ragtimitis in France; ain't this an awful thing to visit upon a 
nation with so many burdens?' But when the band had finished and the 
people were roaring with laughter, their faces wreathed in smiles, I was 
forced to say that this is just what France needs at this critical moment. 

"All through France the same thing happened. Troop trains carry- 
ing Allied soldiers from everywhere passed us en route, and every head 
came out of the window when we struck up a good old Dixie tune. Even 
German prisoners forgot they were prisoners, dropped their work to 
listen and pat their feet to the stirring American tunes. 

"But the thing that capped the climax happened up in Northern 
France. We were playing our Colonel's favorite ragtime, 'The Army 
Blues,' in a little village where we were the first American troops 
there, and among the crowd listening to that band was an old lady about 
sixty years of age. To everyone's surprise, all of a sudden, she started 
doing a dance that resembled 'Walking the Dog.' Then I was cured, and 
satisfied that American music would some day be the world's music. 
While at Aix les Bains other musicians from American bands said their 
experiences had been the same. 



iNEGRO MUSIC THAT STIRRED FRANCE 309 

**Who would think that little U. S. A. would ever give to the world 
a rhythm and melodie'^. that, in the midst of such universal sorrow, would 
cause all students of music to yearn to learn how to play it? Such is the 
case, because every musician we meet — and they all seem to be masters of 
their instruments — are always asking the boys to teach them how to play 
ragtime. I sometimes think if the Kaiser ever heard a good syncopated 
melody he would not take himself so seriously. 

"If France was well supplied with American bands, playing their 
lively tunes, I'm sure it would help a good deal in bringing home enter- 
tainment to our boys, and at the same time make the heart of sorrow- 
stricken France beat a deal lighter." 

Sissle was made a Lieutenant before lie returned with his regi- 
ment from overseas. 

This resume of how Negro music thrilled France brings to 
mind an interesting and pathetic story of an experience in a little 
war-stricken town of the 369th Infantry Band and its agile drum 
major — this same Noble Sissle. After the band had finished its 
output of ''Army Blues," etc., the program shifted to plantation 
melodies, and the auditors were literally overcome by the power of 
the songs, which were sung as only Negroes can sing them. 

Dr. E. R. Moton used to say in his Tuskegee Talks that **the 
white people can beat the Negro doing a great many things, but 
there is one thing at which no white man can beat the Negro, and 
that is in the singing of Negro songs." 

The closing piece on this occasion was *'Joan of Arc," ren- 
dered by Drum Major Sissle, in a beautiful rich baritone. He 
sang it first in English and then in excellent French. It will be 
remembered that this Joan of Arc was the ''Maid of Orleans" that 
came as a mysterious child from the womb of destiny to liberate 
the French at a time when their national existence hung in the 
balance, and her memory is revered throughout France as a patron 
saint. As Drum Major Sissle sang, the people wept. One be- 
whiskered peasant, an elderly man, with tears streaming down his 
age-hardened cheeks, rushed up to this man of color, — an apostle 
of liberty, a man with many wrongs, but like the "Man of Galilee," 
willing to forget — and strenuously attempted to throw his arms 
around the neck of the singer and kiss him. 



310 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

The 350th Field Artillery Band 

The 350th Field Artillery Band, led by Lieutenant J. Tim 
Brymm, of Philadelphia, won fame in France, and received a royal 
welcome upon its return home in March, after an absence of about 
a year. The band has about 70 soloists, recruited ''from the four 
corners of the earth," as its organizer, General Fred T. Austin, 
facetiously puts it. The organization returned to Philadelphia under 
flattering auspices, and Lieutenant Brymm, who has won distinction 
as a composer, had two new offerings for the home-coming recep- 
tion, ''The Philadelphia Sunday Blues," a glittering "jazz" con- 
ceit, and the "Dieulouard Glide," the latter a fox-trot composed 
by Lieutenant Brymm as descriptive of an artillery bombardment. 
It depicts the course of a heavy artillery shell from the beginning 
of its flight to its explosion, and was composed during one of the 
regiment's fiercest artillery duels. Lieutenant Brymm has given 
the country hundreds of popular song hits, the best-known of which 
is perhaps "Please Go 'Way and Let Me Sleep," which had quite 
a vogue some years ago. 

Among the thousands of appreciative welcomers that packed 
the Academy of Music was Mme. Ernestine Schumann-Heink, the 
famous operatic contralto, who has evinced deep interest in a 
number of aspiring colored composers, and who is styled "the god- 
mother of the 350th band," and its chief sponsor. Some wag has 
described Tim Brymm 's Band as "a military symphony engaged in 
a battle of jazz." Lieutenant Brymm also did excellent work as 
leader of the band of the 349th Field Artillery for quite an extended 
period, and brought it up to a high standard. 

Other Regimental Bands That "Made Good" in France 

Other bands that made a record in France, and whose expe- 
riences were much the same as those chronicled with reference to 
the bands of the 369th Infantry and 350th Field Artillery were: 
The 368th Infantry Band, directed by Lieutenant A. Jack Thomas ; 
the parade at Baltimore before going overseas afforded President 
and including Edgar Landin, the drum major whose evolutions in 
Wilson and his party so much solid enjoyment; 



NEGRO MUSIC THAT STIRRED FRANCE 311 

The 370tli Infantry (the ''Old Eighth Illinois" Regiment) 
Band, directed by Lieutenant George E. Dulf ; 

The 349th and 351st Field Artillery and the 365th, 366th and 
367th Regiments of Infantry all had bands that gave a splendid 
account of themselves on both sides of the ocean. 

Several of these unique organizations toured the country 
shortly after their return from overseas, visiting many of the 
principal cities, and were accorded the warmest kind of a reception 
eveiysvhere arrangements were made for their appearance. Their 
work was inspirational to the last degree. The band of the 370th 
Infantry (Eighth Illinois) scored heavily throughout the North and 
East, with the celebrated coloratura soprano, Mme. Anita Patti 
Brown, of Cliicago, as prima donna and soloist. 

Among the bands that have done good work in this country, 
the 16th Battalion Band of the Minnesota Home Guards, under the 
leadership of William H. Howard, is warmly praised in the North- 
west. Mr. Howard was commissioned as a First Lieutenant. He 
is a native of Baltimore and for several years conducted one of the 
leading musical studios in Minneapolis. 

Some of the Song^ Leaders 

The song leaders who trained the soldier lads in mass singing 
in the home camps contributed largely to the morale of the army 
and their labors, rendered in many instances at a heavy personal 
sacrifice, are deserving of the highest commendation. They made 
camp life happy, when the hearts of the men were sad from home- 
sickness, and eveiy task was made lighter by the song that accom- 
panied it. In Y. M. C. A. huts, in the open field, and as the boys 
whiled away the time in the highways and byways of the camp 
area, the song leaders were on deck and had them humming some 
care-destroying melody which brought a silver lining to the threat- 
ening clouds. Of these leaders, J. E. Blanton, Max Weinstein and 
William C. Elkins, deserve especial mention. 

Service Rendered Colored Soldiers by Mrs. Baker 

Among the remembrances of the war period are the visits of 
Mrs. Newton D. Baker, the wife of the Secretary of War, who 
sang in the camps and cantonments and the clubs of the War Camp 



312 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Community Service, and in various city auditoriums. The appear- 
ances of Mrs. Baker at Howard University, at Dunbar High School, 
at War Camp Community Club No. 3, Camp Meade and other 
places near Washington, where soldiers and civilians were sta- 
tioned, were most welcome *' breaks" in the daily routine of the 
soldiers. Her singing always met with an enthusiastic reception, 
commingling in her selections the military, the folk-song and the 
ballad of heart-appeal, and the insistent demands for more, despite 
the extraordinary draft upon her patience and powers, were re- 
sponded to in a measure that was generous to the last degree. She 
enjoyed her faculty of giving joy to others, and it cannot be doubted 
that Mrs. Baker's talents as a singer, and her rare capacity for 
cheering white and colored Americans **to do their best, whate'er 
betide," exerted a potent influence toward the winning of the war. 

It was arranged with the War Camp Community Service that 
J. E. Blanton, of the Penn School, should go from camp to camp, 
leading the men in the singing of the spirituals, teaching them the 
^'Hymn of Freedom," written by Mrs. Burlin, a student of Negro 
hymn-songs, and exerting his influence in sustaining the morale 
which has ever characterized the colored troops. The plan was 
heartily endorsed by Secretary of War Baker, who, in a letter 
written to Mr. Peabody, said: 

*'I am quite sure that you are not overestimating the effect of 
these spirituals. Indeed, there is a certain cadence to these songs 
which is quite unattainable in any music with which I am ac- 
quainted, and I have little doubt that the white soldiers will be 
singing them as eagerly and effectively as the colored men before 
we get very far with it." 

In an interesting article in The Outlook magazine. Miss 
Grant makes note of the fact that the use of these spirituals 
was not restricted to colored camps. The *'Hymn of Free- 
dom," for instance, she says, has been sung in white churches, 
schools and service clubs and by choral organizations connected 
with the war in different parts of the country, thus justifying the 
hope that the noble old Negro melody would become a bond of 
sympathy between the races. The statement is made that the 
writing of the words was in part prompted by Mrs. Burlin 's belief 
that **the artistic utterance of the Negro, which has so important a 



NEGRO IMUSIC THAT STIRRED FRANCE 313 

place in the music of America, might help to build a bridge of 
understanding between the races, spanning the chasm of prejudice.'* 

These songs, many of the titles of which have been quoted 
throughout this chapter on Negro music, along with the hundreds of 
patriotic war melodies by our skilled composers of the modern 
school, were carried to France by the colored troops, and toward 
the close of the conflict they found an additional champion in Dr. 
Moton, himself an unrivaled interpreter of the '' spiritual, " who 
went abroad at the request of President Wilson and Secretary 
Baker to assist in safeguarding the welfare of the black soldiers 
on the battle fronts. 

Miss Grant is firm in the belief that the work of promoting 
the folk-song, with its accompanying Americanism, has suggestion 
for the future in the nation's dealing with the Negro, and the 
solution of what has come to be known as the **race problem." 
Her admirable article closes with a quotation from Mrs. Burlin, 
in the sentiment of which she concurs most heartily: 

*' Through toil and suffering song has kept the heart of the 
Negro still unembittered ; through prejudice and misunderstanding 
it has upheld him; through the stress and sacrifice of this white 
man's war it has cheered him on. And, those who recognize its 
power are surely not wrong in feeling that in the inspired musio 
of the black man lie a prophecy of the possibities of the race and 
an earnest plea for that democracy at home which cannot be won 
by bomb or bullet, but by sympathy and understanding and a 
realization of the contribution which each race can make to the 
civilization of the world." 

Some of the Compositions That Counted 

Thousands of creditable compositions, vocal and instrumental, 
marches, duets, quartets and choruses, have been brought out by 
gifted colored musicians throughout the land. Of the long list of 
such compositions, a song ''The Colored Soldier Boys of Uncle 
Sam," by W. J. Nickerson, of New Orleans, Louisiana, dedicated to 
the colored soldiers of the U. S. A., occupies a conspicuous place. 
The music is in march time, and has a lively step and a resonant 
swing that gives it an especial appeal to all who appreciate the 
combination of classic style with the sprightliness of the melodies 



314 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

tliat make movement their chief function. The words of this 
meritorious production are also by Mr. Nickerson, and they carry 
a sentiment that is at once eloquent and convincing in their 

patriotism. 

** There '11 be no stop, 'till we're over the top, 
We're the colored boys of Uncle Sam!" 

Mr. Nickerson 's inspiring war song acquired a large measure 
of popularity through its use by Mme. Anita Patti Brown, prima 
donna soprano, in the nation-wide concert tour of the 8th Regiment 
(or 370th) shortly after the signing of the armistice. 

The Negro troops of Camp Shelby composed a song of their 
own and dedicated it to their military cantonment. The men at 
this camp were all Southern born, and the theme bore strongly upon 
their attachment to the land in which they first saw the light and 
their comprehension of the joys of army life. The hymn was 
entitled ** Glory, Glory to Old Shelby,'* and was sung to the tune 
of /'The Battle Hymn of the Republic." 

Miss Nannie G. Board, a young colored woman of Louisville, 
Kentucky, won first place in a contest for producing the best orig- 
inal war song, securing this laurel in competition with a field of 
contestants nearly all white. The contest was conducted by the 
United War Worlc Campaign Committee of the State of Kentucky. 
Miss Board graduated from Howard University and became a 
teacher in the State Agricultural and Industrial Institute, Nashville, 
Tennessee. 

After all is said of the mesmeric influence of Negro music 
upon France, and of the high-grade morale maintained in camps 
and communities over here through its magic wand, the world is 
impressed with the thought that melody is indeed the common 
tongue of mankind, and that the Negro-American music that filled 
the hills and dales overseas has forged a link of international 
friendship that will last for all time, and has built up a spirit of 
fellowship and cameraderie between the races, white and black, that 
will lay the foundation of an enduring human brotherhood through- 
out the earth. 



CHAPTER XXII 

THE NEGRO IN THE SERVICE OF SUPPLY 

A Vast Army of Colored Stevedores in France — Their Important 
and Efficient Work — Essential to the Combatant Army in the 
Trenches — Their Loyalty and Cheerfulness — Important Lessons 
Learned in the War — The Labor Battalions — W ell-Earned 
Tributes to These Splendid Colored Workers Overseas. 

War is not all ** death and glory," For every soldier who gets 
even a glimpse of the enemy or risks his life within range of shell- 
fire, there must, in all modern warfare, be from twenty to thirty men 
working at such commonplace and routine tasks as loading and 
unloading ships, building piers, laying railroad tracks, making 
roads, in a thousand other w^ays making it possible for the fighting 
men to get to the front, and for the necessary food, annnunition, 
and other supplies to reach them. But what man would want to 
render such service? It was somewhat exciting news for the Negro 
population of the United States to learn that only about twenty 
per cent of the colored draftees were to be trained to fight while 
the remaining Negroes in the military service would constitute non- 
combatant divisions in the Service of Supply, or other non-fighting 
organizations. On June 23, 1918, when 237,000 Negroes had been 
called to the colors, it was estimated that the battalions of the non- 
combatant to the combatant troops were in the proportion of about 
four to one. 

This vast army of Stevedores in France was composed mostly 
of men who volunteered when the call was first sounded. The first 
men who went over early in June, 1917, were with a civilian con- 
tract company, experienced as stevedores in America. They served 
one year and finishing their contract in June, 1918, returned to 
America. During the early days of July, 1917, other companies of 
volunteer men arrived, so the army grew until the Stevedore Camps 
at base ports in France became one great industrial anny, number- 
ing about fifty thousand. 

315 



316 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

The army of Stevedores had all the equipment, regulations, 
and military rank and uniform that the infantry had. Though 
industrial in its nature, all the life and workings, and details of 
procedure, were according to military law and order. This vast 
army of workers was divided into companies and regiments and 
had their individual camps regularly officered and numbered. Any- 
thing by the way of uniform and ration that other men received, 
the Stevedore shared equally. They were soldiers and took great 
pride in the fact that they belonged to Uncle Sam's Army. Includ- 
ing all the display that goes with drills, reviews, and inspections, 
saluting an officer, flag-raising, and perchance, the grand parades, 
with companies swinging into line, and the martial music of bands, 
the Stevedores always stepped proudly and lively enough to suit 
the! keenest military eye for discipline and fine training. 

The Stevedores also took great pride in their companies, their 
camps, and all that belonged to the Army, and because their work 
and contribution were always emphasized by officers as being essen- 
tial to the boys in the trenches, the name ** Stevedore" finally 
became a dignified and distinguished term, representing an impor- 
tant part of the great American Army. 

To the Negro soldiers of the American Army fell a large part 
of the work of this ''Service of Supply," or, as it was known in 
Army slang, the "S. 0. S." The work of the Negro Stevedore 
Eegiments and Labor Battalions, and their unremitting toil at the 
French ports — Brest, St. Nazaire, Bordeaux, Havre, Marseilles — 
won the highest praise from all who have had an opportunity to 
judge of the efficiency of their work. Every man who served his 
country in one of these organizations was as truly fighting to save 
his country as though he had carried a rifle and killed Germans. 

The following are the Negro organizations, other than combat 
troops, that served overseas: 

Butchery Companies, Nos. 322 and 363. 

Stevedore Regiments, Nos. 301, 302 and 303. 

Stevedore Battalions, Nos. 701, 702. 

Engineer Service Battalions, Nos. 505 to 550, inclusive. 

Labor Battalions, Nos. 304 to 315, inclusive; Nos. 317 to 327, 
inclusive ; Nos. 329 to 348, inclusive, and No. 357. 

Labor Companies, Nos. 301 to 324, inclusive. 



THE NEGRO IN THE SERVICE OF SUPPLY 317 

Pioneer Infantry Battalions, Nos. 801 to 809, inclusive; No. 811 
and Nos. 813 to 816, inclusive. 

At the same time, there were 207 Labor Battalions in France 
composed of white soldiers. 

As there were not sufficient colored officers to command the 
colored regiments and no efforts were being made to train colored 
officers for this purpose, there was much apprehension among the 
colored people as to how these Negro laborers in the military 
service w^ould be treated. Some said it meant the re-enslavement 
of the Negro race. An effort was then made to increase the 
facilities for military training offered to colored draftees in the 
various camps to supply this peculiar need of the Ser^ace battalions, 
and some encouragement and some actual deeds to meet this demand 
followed. It was argued not only that officers to be placed in charge 
of these noncombatant troops should be well trained themselves, but 
that the Negro laborers should be given an opportunity to be 
trained in military tactics. A memorial was, therefore, made to 
the Secretary of War by the Central Committee of Negeo College 
Men, recommending that the noncombatant units excluded from the 
officer training privileges be allowed through the extension of 
training privileges to supply their own quota of noncombatant 
officers, and that for the general good of the service such troops 
be given at least one month's military training before being assigned 
to their specific duties. 

Arduous Tasks for the Army 

The tasks of these soldiers in the Service of Supply were 
numerous. On arriving at the ports they were called upon to 
handle bags of mail and freight sent to supply the Army. The 
Army had to be furnished with horses and mules, which had to be 
fed with forage and supplied with saddles and harness. The men 
needed ice, meat, bacon, flour, and lard, and for comfort shoes, 
clothes, matches, ipecac, and gasoline. When our Army was in full 
swing in France we had to hurry up the shipments of millions of 
rounds of ammunition and large supplies of blankets, rubber-boots, 
hay, and medicines to carry out the great work of promoting 
the war. 



318 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

When brought to the various ports, an unusual number of 
laborers were required to unload such supplies. When unloaded 
the task of transporting them to the various points for distribution 
among the divisions of the Army was a still greater task. As 
railroads were not always available and railway connections had 
been broken up by the penetration of the Germans almost into the 
heart of France, automobile transportation was a necessity. In 
this same service French cattle cars, the ox-cart, the motorcycle, 
side-cars, aeroplanes, and human beings as beasts of burden were 
used. 

The task was rendered somewhat easier later when these same 
men increased sufficiently in numbers to be detached for the special 
service of building Yankee railroads. This made possible an easier 
handling of these supplies through storage depots located at various 
places in France. The storage depot at Gievres, through which 
millions of American wealth passed in the Army like water over a 
milldam, covers six square miles. It was started in the fall of 1917 
and when the war ended the Army had there about twenty miles of 
warehouses and shops of modern construction and about 25,000 
men handling the enormous masses of stores distributed from that 
point. From such warehouses were distributed everything except 
artillery, heavy ammunition and aeroplane products, which had 
supply depots of their own at Mehun and Romorantin. This depot 
is diamond-shaped, with 140 miles of interior railroad lines within 
the reservation for the handling of freight. 

How the colored American Stevedores in France worked is 
told in a report by the Reverend D. Leroy Ferguson, Rector of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church of Our Merciful Saviour, Louisville, 
Kentucky. He paid a high tribute to the American Army of Colored 
Stevedores in a lengthy account which tells of their patriotic deeds. 

On the same day that the American Infantry, treading in the 
wake of the retreating Germans gained the outskirts of Fismes, 
says he, Colored Stevedores unloading a ship at one of the base 
ports, unostentatiously won an important victory by discharging 
1200 tons of flour in 9^^ hours, setting a record for the A. E. F. 
and a pace which is rarely excelled on the best-equipped docks in 
the United States. The same group of Stevedores over a period 
of five days discharged an average of 2000 tons of cargo a day from 



THE NEGRO IN THE SERVICE OF SUPPLY 319 

one ship, a record more notable still. It was a 24-hour-a-day grind 
at the base ports, he says, where thousands of American colored 
troops put ashore the million and one articles, big and little, which 
are necessary for the maintenance of a modera army. The scarcity 
of ocean tonnage made necessary the utilization of every ounce of 
ship capacity, and the saving of every possible moment in dispatch- 
ing supplies to France. 

With the same force with which American line units made their 
debut in a big scale warfare, did the other branches of the service 
upon whose efforts depend the potency and effectiveness of the men 
in the trenches accomplish their less spectacular but equally impor- 
tant work; — more work was accomplished in the S. 0. S. by an 
appreciable percentage during July, 1918, than in any previous 
month. More dirt was excavated; on the rail lines of communica- 
tion, more steel was laid; more warehouses were consti-ucted ; and 
more conspicuous still, at the base ports, more men were landed, 
more freight was discharged from incoming ships, and the efficiency 
of its handling was materially increased. 

Most of the American colored Stevedores had never seen a ship 
until they started for France, but they proved their worth as cargo 
handlers. "Working in the hold of a ship, with the August sun 
raising heat waves from the deck, was not the easiest job in the 
Army, but they broke records at it, and it did not dampen their 
sunny disposition either. 

How splendidly the Stevedores measured up to military stand- 
ards of efficiency while ** making good," and with what great 
affection their officers regarded them and their work. Dr. Ferguson 
had opportunities to witness. And Col. C. E. Goodwyn in a letter 
expresses this fact most admirably. His can be taken as a special 
standard, because Colonel Goodwyn for over a year was in charge of 
the largest camp of Colored Stevedores in France. 

"It is ^dth many keen thrusts of sorrow," said he, **tliat I am 
obliged to leave this camp and the men who have made up this 
organization. The men for whose uplift you are working have not 
only gained but have truly earned a large place in my he^rt, and 
I will always cherish a loving memory of the men of this wonder- 
ful organization which I have had the honor and privilege to 
command." 



320 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

That Colonel Goodwyn was also held in high esteem by his 
men, may be judged from a conversation which was overheard one 
day. After the armistice a group of the boys were discussing what 
they had in mind to do first after returning to America. One 
ambitious fellow said, ''I'm going to marry right away, and get 
me a fine little boy stevedore ! ' ' Another remarked that ' ' Of course 
his name will be Abraham Lincoln." "Oh, no," replied the first 
speaker. "There's too many Abe Lincolns in America now; my 
first boy's going to be called 'Colonel Goodwyn.' " 

Cheerfulness in the Camps 

Very naturally, many amusing stories and jokes, with the war 
and France as a background, featured the life of the colored boys 
over there. One heard many funny "bon mots" and puns and 
clever stories attributed to the Negro soldier, until it seems that 
they brought and made most of the humor connected with the grim, 
frightful war. Surely, in America, the jokes of their experiences 
and life in France, and foreign surroundings, their efforts to imitate 
or speak the French language, will, I imagine, serv^e to increase the 
record, which will be all the more laughable, as well as interesting, 
because of the new situation and circumstances that enter into the 
stories. It is very true that with that native talent and fun-making 
nature of his, the Negro soldier found many things in France that 
amused him, and made possible for him all sorts of jokes and 
clever expressions. Indeed, the Negro soldier was quick to see 
whatever was humorous over there; the war, the army, the firing 
line, even the serious and dangerous things, that make others sad, 
he made the basis of his jokes and ofttimes ridiculed, so that even 
his dangers and his tasks seemed to have been less difficult. No 
doubt these jokes and comic expressions will be heard over again 
and happily enjoyed in America when the boys return home. 

As to cheerfulness, the Stevedore Camps had their share of 
songs, music, and that gaiety which characterizes a cheerful race. 
One thing that most impressed those who were willing to observe, 
was that aU through those stressful days and anxious, when the 
strain of work and the handling of cargoes and ammunition for 
the front became really one long grind for the Stevedores, morning, 
noon and night, one could see them through all sorts of weather 



THE NEGRO IN THE SERVICE OP SUPPLY 321 

and hours, swinging by companies into line, marching bravely and 
merrily to the difficult tasks, singing or whistling some patriotic 
melody or popular song. 

Frequently the base commander and other distinguished officers 
visited the camps and were seen at the public gatherings and 
Y. M. C. A. buildings. "I have heard them repeatedly emphasize," 
writes Dr. Ferguson, "how much the Army at the front depended 
on the work and loyalty of the Stevedores at the base. They also 
spoke to them in the highest terms about the way in which they 
were performing their difficult tasks, without the show, applause, 
and excitement that inspire the soldier at the front. They were 
doing the drudgery, the dull routine, the monotonous labo»; still 
they were the foundation and groundwork upon which the whole 
Army was built. They also were American soldiers and heroes. 

*'With such patriotic sentiment always encouraging them, I 
believe the same acted as a spur to keep the morale up to the 
highest, and the energy with which they worked was all the more 
vital, because they responded readily to the principles of patriotism 
that urged them on, believing that through their efforts all the more 
quickly victory and peace would come. Even after the armistice 
was signed and their thoughts naturally turned homeward to their 
families and friends, a new appeal is being made to them, that the 
Army of Occupation now needs supplies and food, to which they 
are responding loyally, and the Stevedores are over there still at 
work, far into the night and even from the rising to the setting of 
the sun. 

"When it is considered to what extent with regard to different 
States and communities the huge army of Stevedores was organized, 
and the various types and conditions of men represented, ranging 
from the young man of school training and city-bred, to those from 
hamlets and small farms 'way down South, and illiterate, it is 
remarkable how they were all brought together and- welded finally 
into a fine industrial army that made such a w^onderful record of 
work and efficiency. This credit belongs to the Army discipline and 
training they received. The traveler was often amazed to see this 
development of hundreds of young men from crude farmhands, 
very raw material, indeed, day by day improving under Army 
discipline, until in these days, after their months of training, they 



322 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

stand forth, erect, alert, earnest, industrious soldiers; and in them 
is found a type of industrious and useful citizens for the future 
America." 

Lessons Learned in the War 

They learned remarkable lessons in this experience of war 
times, aside from the broadening view of life that travel and 
foreign contact give. These are the lessons of self-control, cleanli- 
ness, promptness, obedience, efficiency, and the value of time. 
Another agency with the camp that greatly influenced the men and 
urged the development of mind, body, and soul was the Y. M. C. A. 
In each camp wherever the Stevedores were stationed there were 
soon established very home-like and commodious ^'Y" buildings, 
all equipped with the same regular, standardized furnishings and 
supplies as others, under the able direction of colored secretaries. 
That the men received additional help and advantage here also is 
well recognized. The programs were elaborate and interesting, 
consisting of lectures by eminent men and women, concerts by the 
leading musicians, singers, and actors that went the rounds of all 
the camps; moving pictures, athletics, circulating libraries, and 
educational classes in reading, writing, mathematics; besides reg- 
ular instruction in French. All these fine influences must have 
reached the minds and hearts of the Stevedores, and scores of men 
who came to the Army illiterate were able, after the training 
received, to write their names and first letters home to wives, 
sweethearts and friends. 

The service rendered by the Negroes of these battalions evoked 
many expressions of admiration and praise from all persons who 
saw the Army in action in France. It was observed that the spirit 
v/hich animated the Americans engaged in the Service of Supply 
division was the same as that of those in the front-line trenches. 
The shiploads of products requiring usually four days for unloading 
were disposed of by these Negroes in half of that time. In fact 
they did everything on a gigantic scale and did their work quickly. 
The rapidity then with which the American soldiers were dispatched 
to France so as to excite surprise at home and abroad was due 
primarily to the unselfish and patriotic sei-vice of the thousands of 
Negro stevedores who cleared the ports on arrival in France. 



THE NEGRO IN THE SERVICE OF SUPPLY 323 

Writing of these wonderful feats an observer asserted that 
when the greatest of American transports jfirst came over, it took 
52 days to unload it at Liverpool. Later this period was reduced 
to 28 days. On the third trip it was decided to send this transport 
to a French port where Americans could handle the freight in less 
time. It turned out that on the first arrival 10,000 men and supplies 
were unloaded and the ship coaled and sent back in four days. 
On the second arrival the same task was completed in three days; 
the third arrival in 48 hours, and the fourth arrival in 44 hours. 
In each case, 5,000 tons of coal had to be put on this large transport 
and loaded from lighters, as her 41 feet of draft kept her far out 
in the harbor. 

Work of the Stevedores 

Referring to the work done by these stevedores in France, 
Mr. Ralph W. Tyler, accredited representative of the Committee on 
Public Information, then in France, said: ''Figures just made 
available show that for the month of September, 1918, there were 
handled at the American base ports in France 767,648 tons, or a 
daily average of 25,588 tons, an increase of nearly ten per cent over 
August. When it is considered that colored stevedores handled by 
far the largest per cent of this tonnage, some idea can be formed 
of the very important service colored stevedores are rendering the 
Government here in France, and how necessary they are to the 
success of the Allies. The work of colored stevedores may be 
menial, and is laborious, but it is as essential as the manning of 
the guns at the front. The fact is, that without these stevedores 
first unloading and aiding in transporting the guns, munitions, and 
supplies to the front, there would be no manning of guns at the 
front. One who sees the stevedores ' work notes with what rapidity 
and cheerfulness they work, and what a very important cog they 
are in the war machinery. The colored stevedore has greater 
endurance than the others." 

At a Stevedore Camp 

In another letter Mr. Tyler said: "I have just returned from 
a two days' visit to a point where there are assembled, and at 
work, some twenty-five thousand service, or stevedore troops. I 
was particularly impressed with the arrangements, and with the 



324 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORT 

uniform cheerfulness and splendid morale of the men. During quite 
an extended conference, or audience, with the Colonel in command, 
he stated that he would not exchange his men, if it were a matter of 
option, for any command in the Army; that he was proud of his 
men, and that they not only responded to discipline readily, but most 
cheerfully. He further stated that he would like to lead his men 
into action, but that the work they were perfonning was urgently 
necessary to facilitate action at the front, and that his men accepted 
their duties, as I learned from the men themselves, knowing that 
their work, although non-combatant, was absolutely necessary to the 
prosecution of the war. 

* * The erroneous opinion existing among many of the colored race, 
that only colored men are commandeered for the laborious, or manual 
work, would quickly be dispelled, among those who hold to such 
opinion, were they over here at the front and could observe the many 
thousands of white men in the Army performing the same class of 
work performed by colored men. In the assignment of duty over 
here, I find that men's racial identity is not considered; that duty is 
paramount. Between the commanding officer, at the point visited, 
and the colored stevedores there appears to be a bond of sympathy 
akin to that existing between a most considerate employer and satis- 
fied and cooperating employees. Not only are our men, at this point, 
treated with marked consideration, without offending strict military 
discipline, but they are wholesomely and abundantly fed, and com- 
fortably and sanitarily quartered. There need not be, back in the 
States, any concern whatever felt as to the treatment accorded, or 
the provisions made for the maintenance of the colored service bat- 
talions in France, so far as I have seen. Most of the men are faring 
as well as they did back in the States, and many of them are faring 
infinitely better than they did when at home, and the amusements 
and recreations provided for them are excellent. 

**The relations existing here between these colored soldiers and 
the French people is fine. Absolutely nothing has transpired here 
among these more than 25,000 colored men gathered from every walk 
of life, and many of them from the ghettos, to arouse even the sus- 
picion of fear in the most timid of white women. It was a long, 
tedious ride to reach this point, but what I have learned at this camp 
abundantly compensates me for the trip. 



THE NEGRO IN THE SERVICE OF SUPPLY 325 

''Another pleasing thing, to me, about this stevedore camp, was 
that the guardhouse was, in size, but a small affair, and that its 
inmates constituted an astonishingly low number, and such as were 
confined in it were there for trivial offenses — mere infractions of 
strict military rules rather than crimes. 

The Colored Motorcycle Riders 

''There is a glamour about the combatant units of an army in 
war that very frequently causes the non-combatants who are most 
essential in war, to be overlooked," continued Mr. Tyler. "Among 
the non-combatants over here who have been overlooked in all reports 
are the colored motorcycle riders, who act as couriers and trans- 
porters, carrying messages, night and day, from front to front; from 
headquarters to the front line trenches and battle front, and back, 
or who rush officers, almost with the velocity of the wind, to distant 
points. It is really marvelous how these colored motorcyclists ride 
pell-mell, in the darkest nights, without headlights, along these 
strange, devious, forking, and merging roads of France, leaving 
towns, through which they pass, behind in an instant. It is mar- 
velous how these riders so quickly learned these French country 
roads. They race along, at times, when the darkness is so thick one 
cannot see his hand before his face, with only their judgment, which 
never fails them, to tell them the right road to take, or how near a 
precipice they are riding. They race along these lonely roads at 
night, whose darkness is only pierced now and then by a bursting 
Grerman shell just ahead or behind them, or at their side, at the rate 
of from 65 to 75 miles per hour. Frequently, as they race along, 
bearing an important message to the front, German shells fall and hit 
the road so continuously as to be incessant, but these daring colored 
motorcyclists, never daunted, ride on, indifferent to the shells, as if 
they were but covering a peaceful road with which they are perfectly 
familiar back in the states. 

"I rode several miles with one last night, from one front to 
another, at a 65-mile-per-hour clip. He was indifferent to the burst- 
ing of American anti-aircraft shells, aimed at the Boche airplane in 
the sky above us; he was oblivious to the thunder of the German 
cannon, and their shrieking shells to our right; he merely had his 
mind, as he kept his eyes to the front, on getting me back to the point 



326 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

which we had left a few hours before, a distance of five miles, in ten 
minutes. And he made it without slip or hit. When the history of 
this war is written some space, by right, must be given to telling 
of the bravery, daring and speed of the colored motorcycle riders, 
seventy-odd of whom are with the colored division which I am with 
at present." 

In appreciation of the unselfish service rendered by these col- 
ored men at one of these ports, General Pershing visited them and 
paid them a fine compliment. He said: ''When this expedition 
first started, the question was: *Do you want any colored men 
over there?' and I said, 'Yes, of course, I want colored men.' 
I said: 'Aren't they American citizens? Can't they do as much 
work in the line of fighting and as much work as any other American 
citizen?' " The General referred to the fact that he was raised in 
a town where three-fourths of the people were colored, and that he 
was proud to say that during the Spanish-American War he com- 
manded a colored troop which did splendid work then, just as other 
Negro troops are doing splendid work now. He said on leaving: 
**I expect to come back here and organize a few volunteer units 
and give you guns and let you go to the front and try your hand 
at it." 

One of the largest camps in France, numbering nine thousand 
Stevedores, frequently had distinguished visitors, who brought 
greetings from America. How happily the boys heard them, and 
with what enthusiastic applause they were welcomed! Especially, 
they will remember Mr. Ralph W. Tyler, war correspondent for the 
colored press, Avho brought greetings from the Secretary of War, 
and their families back home; also, Mr. Julius Rosenwald, who 
brought to the boys greetings from the Governors of their states, 
whom the boys all applauded vigorously. Mr. Eosenwald liked so 
well what he saw that he donated one thousand francs to be spent 
among the boys. One American representative especially received 
prolonged applause and a hearty welcome from the stevedores, 
and that was Ella Wheeler Wilcox. And this because her words 
were so helpful and friendly. Moreover, this eminent poetess was 
able to see something of the heroic and splendid in the Stevedores, 
which inspired her to sing this martial song: 



THE NEGRO IN THE SERVICE OF SUPPLY 327 

The Stevedores 

We are the Army Stevedores, lusty and virile and strong; 

We are given the hardest work of the war, and the hours are long; 

We handle the heavy boxes and shovel the dirty coal; 

While the soldiers and sailors work in the light, 

We burrow below like a mole. 

But somebody has to do this work, or the soldiers could not fight; 

And whatever work is given a man, is good if he does it right. 

We are the Army Stevedores and we are volunteers; 

We did not wait for the draft to come, and put aside our fears. 

We flung them away to the winds of Fate, at the very first call of our land, 

And each of us offered a willing heart, and the strength of a brawny hand. 

We are the Army Stevedores, and w^ork as we must and may, 

The Cross of Honor will never be ours to proudly wear away. 

But the men at the front could not be there 

And the battles could not be won, 

If the Stevedores stopped in their dull routine, 

And left their work undone. 

Somebody has to do this work; 

Be glad that it isn't you! 

We are the Army Stevedores; give us our due! 

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox. 



CHAPTER XXIII 

*'WITH THOSE WHO WAIT" 

Provision for Technical Training of Draftees — Units That Did Not 
Get to France — Vocational and Educational Opportunities 
Opened to Them — The Negro in the Students' Army Training 
Corps — In the Reserve Officers^ Training Corps. 

The progress of the war and the gathering up of miscellaneous 
men from civil life to serve as defenders of the nation, developed 
the fact that the education of the youth of the land had been woe- 
fully neglected, even in the primary and secondary grades, but 
particularly in the matter of technical or vocational training. Thou- 
sands upon thousands of those inducted into the Army through the 
operation of the Selective Draft Law, who were ready and eager to 
battle for the safety of their country's freedom, were sadly deficient 
in practical knowledge of the simplest things essential to the well- 
being of a military organization. Their experience had been con- 
fined largely to the routine of civil life, and the great majority 
called to the colors knew nothing of machinery, the handling of 
tools (as in carpentry, construction and repair), electrical work, 
woodwork, operation and repair of automobiles, horseshoeing, or 
the proper care of animals, etc. The number actually illiterate 
was alarming. It was surprising to those unfamiliar with scholastic 
conditions among the people of this country, that there should be 
so many men unable even to sign their names to the Army payrolls. 

This deplorable situation led the military officials to cast about 
for a means of raising the mental tone of the Army, to enhance its 
efficiency by making provision for technical training, and to carry 
along with such training a system of scholastic improvement, such 
as would enable the soldiers to read and understand army orders, 
to comprehend the meaning and import of signals, to grasp the time 
spirit of service that had brought them into the great war, and to 
fit them for the largest measure of usefulness and to be ready for 

328 



''WITH THOSE WHO WAIT" 329 

the advancement that would naturally come to those who per- 
formed their duty most capably. When it was decided that there 
should be provision for a double system of education and training 
for soldiers, the Special Assistant to the Secretary of War looked 
about to see if all soldiers were to be included in this highly 
important program — that is, if the schedule had in mind the par- 
ticular needs of colored soldiers also. To his regret, he found 
nothing to indicate that colored soldiers were to be given this train- 
ing. After several full and free conferences with Dr. C. A. Prosser, 
Director of the Federal Board for Vocational Training, and his 
assistant. Dr. W. I. Hamilton, to whom, at first, was confided the 
responsibility of developing a program of vocational training, a 
memorandum was drawn up calling attention to the number of 
colored troops already in the service and the probable number to 
follow. As a result the whole program was broadened to include 
also colored soldiers. 

Schools Selected for Training 

A Committee on Education and Special Training was after- 
ward designated by the Secretary of War, and entrusted with the 
execution of this far-reaching program. Certain educational insti- 
tutions were set apart under Government contract for the training 
of student-soldiers. Thirteen of the leading colored schools of the 
land were among the number authorized to undertake the instruc- 
tion of the colored soldiers. The schools selected and the courses 
of instruction decided upon, together with the number of soldiers 
allotted to the various terms were as follows; 

Howard University, Washington, D. C. — May 15 and July 15, 1918, 
300 men, Capt. Jerome Lavigne, C. 0.; bench workers, electricians, wire- 
less operators. 

Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia. — 120 men, July 1, 1918; bench 
workers, general carpenters, army truck drivers, blacksmiths. 

Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College, Savannah, Georgia. — 
125 men ; July 1, 1918 ; blacksmiths, carpenters, electricians, wheelwrights. 

Georgia State Industrial College, Savamiah, Georgia. — 200 men, 
July 1, 1918; army truck drivers, general carpenters, bench workers, 
blacksmiths. 

Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, Hampton, Virginia. — 
Capt. Robert H. Nealy, C. 0. ; June 15, 245 men ; August 15, 1918, 2-45 men ; 



330 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

electricians, carpenters, wheelwrights, machinists, chauffeurs, auto repairers, 
truck drivers, master truck drivers, horseshoers, blacksmiths, pipefitters. 

Negro Agricultural and Technical College, Greensboro, North 
Carolina. — Capt. C. C. Helmar, C. 0.; 260 men, June 15; 280 men, August 
15, 1918; chauffeurs, carpenters, tractor operators, truck drivers. 

Branch Normal School, Pine Bluff, Arkansas. — 120 men, June 15, 
1918 ; carpenters, blacksmiths, auto mechanics. 

TusKEGEE Normal and Industrial Institute, Tiiskegee, Alabama. — 
Capt. Edgar R. Bonsall, C. 0.; 380 men. May 15; 380 men, July 15; 380 
men, Sept. 15, 1918; auto mechanics, carpenters, blacksmiths, general 
mechanics. 

Western University, Quindaro, Kansas. — 100 men, June 15, 1918; 
blacksmiths, carpenters, concrete workers, electricians, horseshoers. 

Prairie Viev^^ N. and I. College, Prairie View, Texas. — 150 men, June 
15, 1918; auto mechanics, chauffeurs, blacksmiths, carpenters. 

WiLBERFORCE UNIVERSITY, Wilbcrforce, Ohio. — 180 men, July 15; 180 
men, August 15, 1918; machine shop, auto gas engines, general mechanics, 
cobblers, carpenters, blacksmiths. 

State Agricultural and Mechanical College, Orangeburg, South 
Carolina. — 240 men, July 1, 1918; auto mechanics, truck drivers, tractor 
operators, concrete workers, blacksmiths, bench woodworking. 

Wendell Phillips High School, Chicago, Illinois. — 170 men, July 1, 
1918; auto mechanics, truck drivers, bench woodworking, electricity. 

Sumner High School, St. Louis, Missouri, — 275 men. 

These military units are listed under the head of ** Those Who 
Wait," although many of them so quickly assimilated the voca- 
tional instruction given them that in a few weeks they were ready 
for overseas service, and actually went over and served in several 
of the great offensives. The preparedness which was theirs, and 
the cheerfulness that characterized their every activity were large 
items in preserving the morale of the Negro people on this side 
of the ocean. 

Value of the Vocational Detachments 

The value of this vocational training cannot he overestimated. 
The mere fact that the Government should he willing to assume 
the responsibility for the mental, physical and technical develop- 
ment, pay all the bills, and give these men a brighter outlook for 
the future, was a revelation to the colored millions of America, and 



''WITH THOSE WHO WAIT" 331 

did more to raise the morale of the race than could have been 
brought about by a thousand speeches or platitudinous proclama- 
tions. It was a big, concrete thing, done in a big way, and no single 
endowment by the Federal authorities in the war period went 
further to encourage the masses to renewed patriotic endeavors 
than did the establishment of these vocational detachments in the 
colored schools of the land. In the first six months more than 3,000 
young colored men received the benefits of the training, and plans 
were laid for an extension of the work to include 20,000 additional 
men had war continued to the point expected by the military 
experts. 

When the armistice was signed more than 10,000 colored men 
were on the roster of these Vocational Detachment units and as 
members of the Students' Army Training Corps, this latter being 
an outgrowth of the success achieved by the Vocational Detach- 
ments. 

The War Department recognized that there are many branches 
of army service in which preliminary technical training is a great 
asset. This training must be largely secured in intensive, short, 
practical courses, so that essential industrial production may not 
he impaired. Much was done at first to meet this need in voluntary 
classes organized by the Federal Board for Vocational Education, 
by various divisions of the Army, and by individual schools. 
Valuable as were the benefits thus secured, however, experience 
demonstrated that on a civilian basis the desired results could not 
be obtained; therefore, it was decided to conduct the training 
under military control. 

In order to coordinate the training program with voluntary 
enlistments and the operations of the selective sei'vice regulations, 
there was established in the War Department, as already noted, the 
Committee on Education and Special Training reporting to the 
Chief of Staff. The functions of this committee as stated in the 
General Order creating it were: 

**To study the needs of the various branches of the sei*vice for 
skilled men and technicians; to determine how such needs should 
be met, whether by selective draft, special training in educational 
institutions or otherwise; to secure the cooperation of the educa- 
tional institutions of the country and to represent the War Depart- 



332 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

ment in its relations with such institutions; to administer such 
plan of special training in colleges and schools as may be adopted.** 

The War Department undertook to provide this intensive tech- 
nical training only for soldiers in the service who were under disci- 
pline and on pay and subsistence during the period of their train- 
ing. For the purpose of training them the War Department made 
use of facilities now in existence, thus offering the different educa- 
tional centers of the country an opportunity to contribute in a very 
important way to the preparation of our armies for service in 
France. 

Since the men to be trained were soldiers under military disci- 
pline, the War Department was obliged to impose certain general 
stipulations on communities agreeing to undertake this work. These 
orders read: 

"1. Men will be sent to civilian institutions for technical training in 
units of from 100 up. Few units will number less than 200 or more 
than 2,000. 

"2. For the maintenance of effective military discipline it is necessary 
that men be housed and fed in groups of approximately 100-500, Com- 
munities and institutions which are willing to receive men for training 
should note that proper facilities for housing and feeding must be provided. 
In training centers already established this requirement has been met in 
various ways; for instance, by utilizing a dormitory or a hotel, by the con- 
version of a hall or an armory, by the erection of temporary barracks, etc. 

"3. Sufficient space suitable for military drill and located at a con- 
venient distance from the quarters must be available. 

"4. Institutions providing training and arranging housing and feeding 
facilities wiU be compensated at a reasonable per diem rate for each man, 
which is intended to cover actual costs. 

"5. Men will be ordered in some cases to the training centers directly 
upon their induction into the service; in this case they will bring extra 
clothing. They will be provided at once with overalls and, as soon as prac- 
ticable after arrival, with servace uniforms and other equipment. In other 
cases the men will come from the recruit depots, at which they will be 
equipped. 

"6. It is expected that the work involved in the technical training 
courses will occupy six to seven hours daily, the remaining time available 
for training being devoted to military drill. 

"7. Most of the men thus assigned are inducted under the selective 
service system. Any one subject to draft, not under call from the Provost 



"WITH THOSE WHO WAIT" 333 

Marshal General, but desiring to volunteer, may be inducted on application 
to his Local Board, providing such Local Board has been called upon by 
the Provost Marshal General to supply a share of men and has not already 
filled the call, and provided he has the qualifications named in such a call. 
Under special authority given to recruiting officers from time to time this 
service may be opened also to men not of draft age who can volunteer as 
enlisted men in the Army." 

Course of Instruction 

The training required was such as to give the men some prac- 
tical skill in the simple underlying operations of carpentry, metal- 
working, blacksmithing, auto mechanics, and other mechanical 
activities useful in the Army. 

Only fundamental training was possible, and training there- 
fore was thoroughly practical rather than theoretical. Most of the 
courses of training were two months in length. The work required 
included the following courses, for which the War Department 
provided definite directions and outlines: 

1. AUTO DRIVING AND REPAIR.— Drivmg motor vehicles of 
various types, making all general repairs to motor trucks, cars, motorcycles, 
tractors. 

2. BENCH WOOD WORK.— Splicing frames, joining, pattern mak- 
ing and fine wood work. 

3. GENERAL CARPENTRY.— Use of the usual carpenter's tools and 
materials; practice in rapid rough work with hatchet and saw to qualify 
the man for building and repairing barracks, erecting concrete forms, rough 
bridge work. 

4. ELECTRICAL COMMUNICATION.— Construction and repair of 
telephone and telegraph lines; repair, adjustment and operation of tele- 
phone and telegraph apparatus; cable splicing. 

5. ELECTRICAL WORK.— Installing, operating and repair of elec- 
trical machines; inside wiring and power circuits. 

6. FORGING OR BLACKSMITHING.— Jobbing blacksmithing; 
motorcycle, automobile, tnick, gas engine and wagon repairing. 

7. GAS ENGINE WORK. — Reconstructing and repairing automobile, 
motorcycle and airplane engines. 

8. MACHINE WORK.— General machine shop work on lathe, drill, 
press, shaper, planer, miller, grinder, etc. 

9. SHEET METAL WORK.— Coppersmithing and tinsmithing; sol- 
dering, brazing and general repairing. 



334 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

The widest publicity was given to this program as it affected 
colored soldiers, through the colored papers, in addition to the 
use of the official circulars of the War Department, and each of the 
schools under contract was flooded with applications, sent by mail 
or brought in person to the institution by the applicant, to be con- 
sidered by the Commanding Officers of the Training Detachments. 
Applicants already in the military service or of draft age and yet 
to be inducted, were required to have a grammar school education, 
and were assigned to the courses to which the applicant in question 
seemed best adapted by education, physical condition or experience. 

For sympathetic counsel, practical suggestions and constant 
encouragement in getting the work of these vocational schools 
before the people and bringing to the Negro the full fruits of this 
beneficent program, the author was indebted in the largest measure 
to General Robert I. Eees, of the General Staff Corps, and Chair- 
man of the Committee on Education and Special Training; Major 
Grenville Clark, of the Adjutant General's Department; Mr. 
William H. Lough and Dr. Ralph Barton Perry, executive secre- 
taries, and Mr. C. R. Dooley, educational director, of the Committee 
on Education and Special Training of the War Department. The 
results of the training received by the thousands of young colored 
men in the selected schools, under the control of the Government, 
are reflected hot only in the broader opportunities afforded for 
helpful service and advancement during the war, but in the wider 
area created for the soldier after the war, in the way of a more 
lucrative employment and a larger mental and moral endowment. 

The Students' Army Training Corps 

The success achieved throughout the country by the Vocational 
Detachments of the United States Army in the utilization of the 
young manhood of the Republic, led naturally to a further plan 
for enlisting the strength of the student forces of the land. The 
regularly established camps and cantonments were, in many in- 
stances, far away from the centers where thousands of youths 
might be found and who were available for the army of the future, 
for no one could know at that time how long the war might continue 
and it was deemed advisable to marshal the entire man-power of the 
nation to be drawn upon, if the necessity therefor should arise. It 



"WITH THOSE WHO WAIT" 335 

occurred to farseeing military authorities that the hundreds of school 
plants, some of them almost denuded of men by the operation of the 
draft, might be utilized to train the still younger men and boys who 
might be needed to defend the flag. The Government perceived the 
wisdom underlying this plan of providing for future necessities, and 
out of the mass of suggestions and discussions was born the Students' 
Army Training Corps, to include qualified young men between the 
ages of eighteen and twenty-one, not then acceptable under the 
selective draft law. 

The administration of this new instrumentality for the national 
defense was also placed in the hands of the Committee on Education 
and Special Training of the "War Department at Washington. 
Through the prompt action of those entrusted with the welfare of 
the colored people of the land, provision was made for the participa- 
tion of colored young men in this work, on equal terms with others, 
and units of the Students' Army Training Corps were established 
at colored schools which were able to meet the Government's require- 
ments. 

The primary purpose of the Students* Army Training Corps, as 
described in the military regulations, was to utilize the executive 
and teaching personnel and the physical equipment of the educa- 
tional institutions to supplement the labors of the regular camps 
and cantonments in the training of the new armies of the nation. Its 
aim was to train officer-candidates and technical experts of all kinds 
to meet every need of the service. In the list of colleges, universities, 
professional, technical and trade schools of the country, totaling 
about 550, a score or more were conducted for the education of 
young colored men. 

For administrative purposes the Corps was divided into two 
sections, the Collegiate or ''A" Section, and the Vocational or "B" 
Section. The units of the '*B" Section were formerly known as 
National Army Training Detachments, and their especial function, 
after being incorporated in the '^S. A. T. C." scheme was to continue 
the program of industrial development and to train soldiers for 
service as trade specialists in the Army. The colored schools carried 
into this program included: 

Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Alabama; Hampton 
Institute, Hampton, Virginia; How^ard University, Wasliington, 



336 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

D. C. ; Atlanta University, Atlanta, Georgia; Georgia State A. and M. 
College, Savannah, Georgia; North Carolina A. and T. College, 
Greensboro, N. C. ; South Carolina A. and M. College, Orangeburg, 
S. C; Prairie View Normal and Industrial College, Prairie View, 
Texas ; Lincoln University, Chester County Pa. ; West Virginia Col- 
legiate Institute, Institute, W. Va.; Wilberforce University, Zenia, 
Ohio ; Alabama A. and M. College, Normal, Ala. ; Tennessee A. and 
M. College, Nashville, Tenn.; and Louisiana A. and M. College, 
Baton Rouge, La. — fourteen in all. 

The '*A" or Collegiate Section, which was inaugurated October 
1, 1918, was open to registrants of authorized colleges, universities 
or professional schools who were eligible for admission to the 
S. A. T. C. by voluntary induction into the military service. They 
thus became members of the Army on active duty, receiving pay and 
subsistence, subject to military orders, and living in barracks under 
military discipline in exactly the same manner as any other soldier. 
The housing, subsistence and instruction of soldiers in both branches 
of the Students' Army Training Corps were provided by the educa- 
tional institutions under contract with the Government to furnish the 
same. Students voluntarily inducted into the service were ordinarily 
allowed to choose the branch of the service for which they wished to 
be prepared, but this freedom of choice was not absolute, being 
subject to a very large extent to the particular qualifications of the 
individual and upon the needs of the service at any specified time. 
All students were required to meet the physical standards authorized. 

The status of a member of the S. A. T. C. was that of a private; 
the pay was $30 per month. Students were at the beginning divided 
into four groups, according to age, and were given the same course of 
two months' military, industrial or other training, followed by a 
second two months of higher academic subjects of military value, if 
the soldier was found capable of greater advancement. Members of 
the Collegiate or ''A" Section, who showed by their rating in 
academic and military work that they had unusual ability were given 
opportunities for transfer to a Central Officers' Training School; 
transfer to a non-commissioned officers' school; or assigned to the 
institution where they were enrolled for further intensive work in a 
specified line, as, for instance, in engineering, chemistry or medicine. 

Those members of a Collegiate Section whose record was such 



"WITH THOSE WHO WAIT" 337 

as not to justify the Government in continuing their collegiate train- 
ing were eligible for assignment to a Vocational Training Section 
for technical training of military value ; or transfer to a cantonment 
for duty with troops as a private. 

Men in ''B" unit of the S. A. T. C. were given an equal oppor- 
tunity with those in the college or ^'A" unit, to demonstrate their 
fitness for advancement and their qualifications for officers and non- 
commissioned officers ' schools, or for continuance at institutions for 
more advanced study. The plan adopted provided that student- 
soldiers would be transferred to the army for active service at stated 
intervals, and their places would be taken at the school by new con- 
tingents, inducted for similar training. 

The colored educational institutions embraced in the **A" or 
Collegiate Section of the Students' Army Training Corps were: 
Howard University, Washington, D. C. ; Lincoln University, Chester 
county, Pa.; Fisk University, Meharry Medical College, Nashville, 
Tenn. ; Atlanta University and Morehouse College (combined), 
Atlanta, Ga.; Wiley University and Bishop College (combined), 
Marshall, Texas; Talladega College, Alabama; Virginia Union Uni- 
versity, Richmond, Va. ; Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio. 

An instruction camp for colored schools and colleges was held at 
Howard University, Washington, D. C, August 1 to September 16, 
1918. Howard University, Washington, D. C. ; Atlanta University, 
Atlanta, Ga. ; Lincoln University, Chester county. Pa. ; Raleigh. Uni- 
versity, Raleigh, N. C. ; Shaw University, Raleigh, N. C. ; Wilberforoo 
University, Zenia, Ohio ; Virginia Union University, Richmond, Va. ; 
Straight University, New Orleans, La. ; Morehouse College, Atlanta, 
Ga. ; Talladega College, Talladega, Ala.; Bishop College, Marshall, 
Texas ; Benedict College, Columbia, S. C. ; Allen University, Colum- 
bia, S. C. ; New Orleans University, New Orleans, La.; Florida A. 
& M. College for Negro Youth, Tallahassee, Fla. ; Biddle University, 
Charlotteville, N. C. ; Livingston, College, Salisbury, N. C. ; the 
Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Alabama; the Hampton 
Normal and Agricultural Institute, Hampton, Va., and Lincoln Insti- 
tute, Jefferson City, Mo., were among the schools which were asked 
to send a student representative for each twenty-five and one faculty 
member for each one hundred of the male student enrollment. These 
men were trained forty-seven days on temporary enlistment as 



338 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

privates, during wliich term they received housing, uniforms, sub- 
sistence, equipment, and instruction at the Government's expense 
with the pay of a private, $30 per month (and reimbursement of 
transportation to and from camp at 4 cents per mile). The plan of 
operation and the advantages given these men were identical wdth 
those of all other colleges of the country. Wilberforce University, 
alone of all the schools, however, secured a rating for recognized 
military training. A group of officers was designated by the War 
Department to take charge of the instruction, including Lieutenant 
Eussell Smith (afterwards promoted to a captaincy), commanding 
officer. 

Where the Color Line Was Drawn 

As no institution, however well-intentioned, is without its flaws 
in the administration of its purposes, the S. A. T. C. had its ''fly in 
the ointment." The color question came to the fore, especially as 
related to those institutions which had not been in the habit of 
accepting colored students, or in which but few had previously been 
registered. Trouble on this score was reported by colored students 
who attempted to secure entrance to the military units at certain 
colleges in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Nebraska and perhaps other states. 
A declaration was issued by the War Department officially dis- 
countenancing all discriminations based on color. This declaration 
as officially announced by the War Department was signed by Col. 
Robert I. Rees, an upstanding American. He always stood for jus- 
tice and fair play so far as the men of the S. A. T. C. and the R. 0. 
T. C. units were concerned. His declaration read as follows : 

* ' No color line will be drawn in inducting men into the S. A. T. C. 
Colored men eligible for induction will be inducted at institutions 
which they attend and will not be required to transfer to other insti- 
tutions.'* 

Such problems as arose in connection with attendance of colored 
students at Northern institutions were left by the War Department 
to be settled by the college authorities, the War Department refusing 
to be a party to any program which would introduce the color line 
into those schools v/here it is not already drawm. At the same time 
announcement was made that the War Department did not seek 
through its program to break down the color line in any institution 



''WITH THOSE WHO WAIT" 339 

where it was observed. The general effect of this prompt decision 
on the part of the War Department was gratifying to colored people 
throughout the country. The controversy and its satisfactory adjust- 
ment was described in clear fashion in an interesting news item, 
making note of the circular letter sent out by the Secretary of the 
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The 
statement of Mr. John P. Shillady, Secretaiy of the organization 
referred to, touching the matter of the rejection of colored student 
applicants to the Students ' Army Training Corps, was : 

"Certain college authorities, acting under a misapprehension of War 
Department regulations, denied the privileges of the Students' Army Train- 
ing Corps to colored students of Ohio and Nebraska colleges. In one case 
this action was taken upon instructions of the regional director of a section 
of the Training and Instruction Branch of the War Department Committee 
on Education and Special Training, and in another case by direction of 
the War Department's District Inspector. In the Ohio case inquiries were 
addressed to the War Department by the students themselves, by the 
National Office of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored 
People, and by the Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, branches. These 
branches and the students arranged for conferences with the college author- 
ities on the matter. The following telegram on the subject, signed by 
Emmett J. Scott, Special Assistant to the Secretary of War, under date of 
September 25, 1918, is self-explanatory: 

" 'The War Department has not issued any instructions pre- 
venting Negro students from joining Student Army Training Corps 
at Ohio State University or any other institution. Any student 
mentally and physically qualified and accepted by the school offi- 
cials is eligible for admittance into any Student Army organiza- 
tion, 

'Emmett J. Scott, 
'Special Assistant to Secretary of War.' 
"It is apparent from a reading of this telegram and from the 
statements of Mr. Scott made personally to the Secretary of the National 
Association for the Advancement of Colored People, while in Washington, 
on September 28, that the War Department has made no ruling requiring 
a separation of colored and white students in barracks or dormitory 
arrangements in the colleges, and that the acceptance of a student by a 
college under the terms and conditions usual to such colleges qualifies the 
student for admission to the Students' Army Training Corps provided 
he is able to qualify. 



340 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTOEY 

"Tlie branches and the members of the Association generallj^ are re- 
quested to put this matter clearly before the colored students who may 
desire to enter the Students' Ai-my Training Corps. This will serve as a 
guide to appropriate action in case any colleges deny admission to colored 
students under a similar misapprehension to that alluded to above." 

Demobilization of the S. A. T. C. 

Although the country was keenly alive to the necessity for some 
system of general military training for the youth of the land that 
would serve as a medium for insuring the national safety, when the 
armistice was signed November 11, 1918, discussion arose at once as 
to the future of the Students' Army Training Corps. The War 
Department was at first of the opinion that the organization could 
be maintained with profit to itself and to the students until the end 
of the fiscal year at least, while others high in authority contended 
that the war emergency being over, the corps should be demobilized 
at once. Among the forces that desired the continuance of the 
S. A. T. C. was the Merchants' Association of New York City, which 
laid before the Department an offer of financial assistance, if neces- 
sary, to maintain the organization along the original lines. 

Major Ralph Barton Perry, executive secretary of the Committee 
on Education and Special Training, administering this branch of 
instruction under the War Plans Division of the General Staff of the 
Army, replying to the communication of the Merchants' Association 
urging the continuance of the S. A. T. C, gave as follows the reasons 
why the War Department did not consider it practical to carry on 
the military training units in colleges: 

**It was not, as had often been assumed, an educational measure, 
but a plan for creating a reservoir of officer material with which to 
supply the Officers Training Camps and the other needs of the army 
for specially trained men. There were certain strong reasons for 
continuing to June 30, 1919, but these reasons were not military 
reasons, and did not justify the expenditure of money appropriated 
for specifically military purposes. While this is the fundamental 
reason for the demobilization of the Students ' Army Training Corps, 
for various reasons it would have proved difficult, if not impossible, 
to continue it in any case. ' ' 

According to Major Perry, about 25 per cent, of the institutions 



"WITH THOSE WHO WAIT" 341 

were opposed to maintaining the units, once war ceased. He also 
said that many of the members of the corps immediately sought dis- 
charges in order to pursue civil studies, and these men could not be 
held in service against their inclinations. *'The War Department," 
?aid Major Perry, '*is fully aware of the force of the arguments 
in favor of continuing the Students' Army Training Corps. The 
demobilization will, in some cases, doubtless result in inconvenience 
to the institution. The Committee on Education and Special Train- 
ing has, however, been authorized to make equitable financial adjust- 
ments. It is also recognized that in many cases the individual stu- 
dents will suffer hardships. 

*'It should, however, be clearly borne in mind that no man was 
inducted into the S. A. T. C. on promise of an education at Govern- 
ment expense. He was inducted into the army for the purpose of 
receiving special additional training in connection with his purely 
military training, always with a view to the needs of the ser^dce." 

To Train Reserve Officers for the Army 

On December 21, 1918, Secretary Baker authorized the state- 
ment that, with the demobilization of the Students' Army Training 
Corps, the colleges of the country would turn their attention to an- 
other phase of militaiy preparedness — that of establishing the 
Reserve Officers' Training Corps. This offered another opportunity 
for the training of youth, colored men along with others, for the 
national defense, and many of the colored educational institutions 
which had maintained the S. A. T. C. up to the period of its demobili- 
zation, filed application for units of the new E. 0. T. C, and also 
asked that colored officers of experience and capacity be installed 
as instructors in military science and tactics. 

R. 0. T. C. Units and Their Military Instructors 

Below is a complete list of the schools selected up to April 1, 
1919, together with a roster of the officers designated as military 
instructors therein. Most of the instruction at the beginning was in 
infantry movements. 

Howard University, Washing-ton, D. C— Major Milton T. Dean 
and First Lieutenant Campbell C. Johnson. 

Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute, Tuskegee, Ala, — 



342 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Captain Bussell Smith, First Lieutenant James C. Pinkston and 
Second Lieutenant Harry J. Mack. 

Wilberforce University, Wilberforce, Ohio.— First Lieutenant 
Percival E. Piper. 

Negro A. and T. College, Greensboro, N. C— Second Lieutenant 
Horace Gr. Wilder. 

South Carolina A. and M. College, Orangeburg, S. C— First 
Lieutenant Samuel Hull. 

Hampton A. and I. Institute, Hampton, Va.— First Lieutenant 
Leonard L. McLeod. 

Virginia N. and I. Institute, Petersburg, Va.— Second Lieutenant 
Ernest C. Johnson. 

Prairie View N. and I. College, Prairie View, Texas.— First 
Lieutenant Walter A. Giles. 

Tennessee Agricultural and Industrial School, Nashville, Tenn. — 
First Lieutenant Grant Stuart. 

West Virginia Collegiate Institute, Institute, W. Va. — First 
Lieutenant John H. Purnell. 

Branch Normal School, Pine Bluff, Ark. — First Lieutenant 
Elijah H. Goodwin. 

Straight College, New Orleans, La. — Captain Charles C. Cooper. 

One important change in the organization was worked out, alloAv- 
ing the units of the R. 0. T. C. to specialize in training officer mate- 
rial for Field Artillery, Engineer, Coast Artillery, Ordnance, Medi- 
cal, and Aeronautics Corps, instead of the uniform training for 
Infantry, which was the rule before the war. In addition to the 
collegiate units, plans were formulated for the establishment of 
junior units in secondary schools. The Committee on Education 
and Special Training was able to take advantage of the opportunity 
afforded by the war to make available a large amount of scientific 
and technical material, which had been developed by the experience 
of military leaders on both sides of the ocean, and in all units special 
emphasis is placed on physical training and mass athletics. 

The formation of these units of the R. 0. T. C. came in response 
to the national demand for military training for the youth of the 
land, to provide the preparedness necessary as a safeguard to pro- 
tect the general welfare. The sentiment was everywhere heard that 
"Even if we have no wars, universal military training will make bet- 



"WITH THOSE WHO WAIT" 343 

ter citizens." The discipline and courtesies which grow out of the 
relations of military men among themselves and the lessons that 
soldiers learn in keeping themselves ''fit to fight" are fine additions 
to what young men have been able to get in colleges. 

The difference between the Students ' Army Training Corps and 
the Eeserve Ofiicers' Training Corps is that the S. A. T. C. trained 
the private ; the R. 0. T. C. trained officers : the former took a short 
cut and laid stress on military training; the latter took the long way 
round and laid stress on the general education of the individual and 
emphasized the value of administrative or executive ability. One 
taught the individual to obey without question ; the other taught the 
individual to command judiciously and to get results from the correct 
application of military science. The Reserve Officers' Training 
Corps was designed to give a large number of capable young men 
(colored and white) such training as would qualify them to serve 
their country as officers in case of another war. All found to be 
qualified mentally, physically and temperamentally, have been placed 
on the reserve officers' list subject to call in the event of another war. 
This branch of the service proved to be of inestimable value to hun- 
dreds of live and ambitious young men of the Negro race. 



CHAPTEE XXIV 

GERMAN PROPAGANDA AMONG NEGROES 

Insidious E'fforts to Create Dissatisfaction Among Colored Amer- 
icans — Germany's Treacherous Promises — How the Hun Tried 
to Undermhie the Loyalty of Our Negro Citize^is — Steps Taken 
to Combat Enemy Propaganda — Work of the Committee on 
Public Information. 

Many were the methods resorted to by Germany and her allies 
in their desperate efforts to win the war. Some of them were among 
the most despicable, dishonorable, and unscrupulous ever recorded in 
the annals of military history. By no means did the Imperial Ger- 
man Government confine its war activities to soldiers, to battleships, 
or to battlefields — those open, legitimate methods which honorable 
nations use, as a last resort, to settle international differences. On 
the contrary, Germany sought in many nefarious, secret ways (as 
was discovered and revealed by the Military Intelligence Bureau 
and the Department of Justice) to aid her war program right here 
on American soil, through propaganda work among enemy civilians, 
and through acts of open outlawry committed either directly by her 
subjects or by pro-German sympathizers. 

Even prior to the breaking out of hostilities, Germany diligently 
endeavored to promote anti-war sentiment in America, designed to 
produce an increased number of pacifists who were opposed to the 
declaration of war as well as to our country's war program. She 
tried in a number of ingenious ways to appeal to, and to cause dis- 
8atisfaction among various racial groups which go to make up Amer- 
ica's composite population, and to make them lukewarm in the sup- 
port of their Government. For instance, in her effort to disaffect 
the Irish- American group, she paraded before them in certain news- 
papers, in the form of subsidized articles, by lectures, public 
speakers, and otherwise, the Irish Home Rule Question so dear to 
the Irish heart, the alleged mistreatment of Ireland by England, the 

344 



GERMAN PROPAGANDA AMONG NEGROES 345 

execution of Sinn Feiners and of Sir Roger Casement; by which 
sort of propaganda work she hoped to set Americans of Irish descent 
against the idea of supporting this country as an ally of England. 

In order to influence German-Americans, she energetically fos- 
tered in this country various kinds of propaganda designed to make 
this racial group support the ''Fatherland" more and America less; 
she urged German-American workers in munition plants and in 
other establishments supplying war materials *'to be true to the 
Fatherland" and to withdraw their labor from all such industries, 
and not only that, but her agents aided and abetted German sympa- 
thizers to commit acts of sabotage and violence in order to impair 
or destroy the power of this country to produce war materials and 
the implements of war. Her secret service agents and paid hirelings 
strove to promote strikes and friction among various groups of 
American workingmen, and even encouraged and engaged in the 
blowing up of bridges, railroads, munition plants, and other indis- 
pensable adjuncts connected with the successful prosecution of war. 

In addition to her insidious plans to disaffect those of alien birth 
or parentage, she also attempted propaganda work among native- 
bom Americans both white and black, and it required all the courage 
and intelligence of the white press and the Negro press, ably assisted 
by the Committee on Public Information and its countless number 
of loyal public speakers, white and black, to counteract the pacifist 
propaganda, ''Made in Germany," which threatened for a time to 
keep our country from participating in the world's great struggle 
for freedom and democracy. 

Foremost among those who successfully combated this pro- 
German propaganda was Colonel Theodore Roosevelt, whose force- 
ful opposition to hyphenated Americans and pacifists will ever stand 
as a monument to his 100-per-cent Americanism. Even before our 
country's entrance into the arena of war as an ally of Great Britain 
and France, German propaganda made itself manifest in a deter- 
mined effort to influence American voters in favor of placing an 
embargo upon all shipments of arms, ammunition, etc., to belligerent 
nations ; the defeat of Germany's plan in this regard led up, indirectly 
if not directly, to the Lusitania disaster, which may be said to have 
brought the United States into the war. 



346 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Propaganda Among Negroes 

Active German propaganda of various kinds was attempted, 
and was officially recognized to exist among the colored people of 
this country, and it is one of the most remarkable facts of the war 
that in spite of so many insidious plans to bring about disaffection 
among them by emphasizing racial discriminations, injustices, and 
the like, in spite of so many temptations to be disloyal, the entire 
racial group of colored Americans remained absolutely loyal and 
actively patriotic. Authentic information that the Germans tried to 
incite the colored people of the South against the United States was 
brought out by Mr. A. Bruce Bielaski, Chief of the Bureau of Investi- 
gations, Department of Justice, in a Congressional inquiry conducted 
by the Senate Committee which investigated German propaganda 
in America. Mr. Bielaski said that ''The colored people did not take 
to these stories, they were too loyal. Money spent among them for 
propaganda was thrown away." During the course of the same 
official hearing, Captain George B. Lester, Military Intelligence 
Officer, told the Senate Propaganda Investigating Committee that 
German propaganda among Negroes of the South was particularly 
active in the Spring and Summer of 1918. 

Stirred Race Hatred 

In the course of his testimony. Captain Lester said: **When 
the thirty-one propagandists who reached this country (from Ger- 
many) shortly after the outbreak of the war organized the Fuehr 
publicity bureau in New York, they set aside one 'section' for dealing 
with American race problems. They kept records of every lynching, 
every attack by a Negro upon a white person, and every item of 
alleged oppression of the Negro race by the whites. The directing 
head of the propaganda was the German ambassador at Mexico City. 
In this country Reiswitz, former Consul at Chicago, acted as his 
assistant. The Negroes were told by the propagandists that in 
Europe there was no color line ; that there the blacks were equal to 
the whites; that if Germany won the war the rights of Negroes 
throughout the world would equal those of whites. On the military 
side the propaganda took the form of stories that NegTo soldiers 
were left on the ground to die and that they always were put in the 
first line trenches in France and used almost exclusively as 'shock 



GERM.AN PROPAGANDA AMONG NEGROES 347 

troops. ' The German agents passed the word among Negro recruits 
that if Germany won the war, a certain section of the United States 
would be set aside where the Negroes could rule themselves." 

As later developments proved, this was an unsuccessful attempt 
to weaken the morale of Negro soldiers. In his story of the work of 
Gei-mans among colored Americans generally, Captain Lester said 
that "the propaganda became so annoying that a conference of 
leading Negroes (referring to the Negro Editors' Conference which 
was also attended by a number of other leaders of Negro thought 
and opinion) was called in June, 1918, in Washington, D. C, and a 
movement immediatelg started through the War Department and 
the Committee on Public InformMion to offset it.** ''As a result " 
he added, *Hhe activity of the German agents soon ceased/* It was 
the splendid team work of Negro editors throughout the country 
that, in large measure, helped to guard colored Americans against 
such propaganda and to maintain a healthy morale among them. 

Lynchings During the War 

While German propaganda failed to affect the colored people 
to the extent of diverting them from their loyalty to the United 
States, yet the truth of the matter is that the morale of the colored 
people was kept more or less disturbed and at a frazzled edge during 
most of the war by what came to be kno^vn as ** anti-Negro propa- 
ganda." Much of this could not be traced to German sources, but 
plainly had its origin in age-old prejudices which have existed in 
America against colored people along certain well defined lines. 
The number of lynchings of Negroes seemed to be on the increase 
during the course of the war, and THESE LYNCHINGS, BE IT 
REMEMBERED, WERE NOT *'Made in Germany." According 
to the records compiled by Monroe N. Work, in charge of records 
and research of Tuskegee Institute, there were 58 Negroes lynched 
in 1918 and 38 lynched in 1917, a total of nearly 100 Negroes lynched 
on American soil while our country was at war and while hundreds 
of thousands of loyal Negro soldiers and millions of law-abiding 
colored Americans were supporting the Government with unfalter- 
ing patriotism. 

This unfortunate condition gave German newspapers abroad 
much ground for effective criticism, and the following press reports 



348 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

indicate the kind of articles which frequently appeared in the Ger- 
man press, some of which were reprinted in American newspapers. 
Many of these articles carried the impression to the German people 
that Germans were being lynched in America. 

• The Munich Neueste Naclitrichten said that at the Berne pris- 
oner-of-war conference the German representatives would have the 
opportunity of bringing up the question of Praeger, who was lynched, 
remarking that questions were asked of the foreign office representa- 
tive at the last session of the Reichstag on this case. It called atten- 
tion to the cases of Consuls Bopp and Schack of San Francisco, 
which, it said, should be made the subject of an interpellation in the 
Eeichstag. The paper said that the German delegates should bring 
up the whole question at the. conference and be able to assure better 
tieatment for Germans in America. 

The Kolnische Volhszeitung published a long article headed 
''JUDGE LYNCH, MISTER MOB." The article asserted that for- 
merly American writers alleged that the crime of lynching existed 
only in the black belt, but now, the paper declared, lynch law belong-s 
to the approved rites of ' ' culture ' ' in the United States. 

**The most horrible scenes of human bestiality which can be 
recorded," it goes on, **are quite natural for the Yankee. * * * 
He no longer gets excited over a lynching, and is only ashamed when 
foreigners call attention to this 'people culture.' " 

It is always asserted, the paper proceeded, that mobs and the 
scum of the people are responsible for lynchings. 

"Every American who uses the word MOB in this sense," it 
adds, "lies, because he knows that all classes of society, without 
exception, including men and women, partake." 

At Brookhaven, Miss., the paper sets forth, a colored man was 
lynched by 20,000 persons, and many landowners from Lincoln drove 
in during the night in order to "enjoy the crime." 

That paper also referred to Praeger, and declared that after 
energetic action by the German government, AVashington gave the 
press the tip to discourage lynching. It scoffed at President Wilson's 
message regarding crimes committed by the German army, saying 
"he lives in a glass house and should not throw stones." 

Articles of this kind generally appeared prior to and to excuse 
what the Germans call "reprisals," otherwise Hun brutality. 



GERMAN PROPAGANDA AMONG NEGROES 349 

A National Danger 

No question was fraught with more danger to our national 
security in time of war, and none will be more deserving of radical 
treatment in time of peace than the unlawful practice of lynching, 
regardless of the state or section in which it occurs and regardless 
of the nationality of the victim. 

Some of the lynchings that occurred during the war were cases 
of colored women (5) accompanied by barbarities that cannot prop- 
erly be described in print and wholly unworthy of civilized groups 
of people. There were burnings of human beings at the stake, 
modeled after medieval horrors, and, in several instances well-known 
colored citizens of wealth, intelligence, and upright character were 
tarred and feathered and nameless outrages committed upon their 
persons and property. Reports of these outrages found their way 
to the colored people through the Negro press, which stoutly main- 
tained that if America had gone forward to fight battles for freedom 
and democracy abroad, it should at least give full protection to all 
of its citizens at home. Foremost among the white friends of the 
Negro, who vigorously opposed lynching and whose trenchant pen 
and eloquent voice have always been enlisted on the side of Right 
and Justice, was Mr. Moorfield Storey, the well knoMTi la\vyer of 
Boston, who delivered a most remarkable address on ''The Negro 
Question" before the Wisconsin Bar Association, on June 27, 1918, 
in the course of which he said : 

''Negroes are denied the protection which the law affords the 
lives and property of other citizens. If only charged with crime or 
even misdemeanor, they are at the mercy of the mob and may be 
killed and tortured with absolute impunity. In many States they 
cannot obtain justice in the courts. At hotels, restaurants and 
theaters they are not admitted or are given poor accommodation. 
In the public parks and public conveyances, even in the public offices 
of the nation, they are set apart from their fellow-citizens. The 
districts which they occupy in cities are neglected by the authorities, 
and of the money which the community devotes to education, a very 
small fraction is allotted to them, so that their schoolhouses and 
their teachers are grossly inadequate. 

"It is notorious that in many cities they are wretchedly housed 



350 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

and charged unreasonable rents for their abodes. Labor unions will 
not receive them as members, and as non-union men they find it hard 
to get employment. If in spite of every obstacle they gain an educa- 
tion, they find door after door closed to them which would have 
opened to receive them gladly had their skins been white. 

''The deliberate effort is made to stamp them as inferior, to 
keep them ''hewers of wood and drawers of water," to deny them 
that opportunity which America offers to every other citizen or 
emigrant no matter how ignorant or how degraded. These are the 
unquestionable facts, and they are not controverted." 

Mr. Storey then proceeded to quote some testimony from the 
Southern Press, as follows : "Let me give you some testimony from 
the South. Says The Atlanta Constitution: 'We must be fair to 
the Negro. There is no use in beating about the bush. We have not 
shown this fairness in the past, nor are we showing it today, either 
in justice before the laws, in facilities afforded for education, or in 
other directions.' 

"Some years ago," said Mr. Storey, "a Mississippi lawyer, 
addressing the Bar Association of that State, said: 'A Negro ac- 
cused of crime during the days of slavery was dealt with more justly 
than he is today. * * * It is next to an impossibility to convict, 
even upon the strongest evidence, any white man of a crime of 
violence upon the person of a Negro, * * * and the converse is 
equally true that it is next to an impossibility to acquit a Negro of 
any crime or violence where a white man is concerned,' and well did 
he (the Mississippi lawyer) add: 'We cannot, either as individuals, 
as a country, as a State, or as a nation continue to mete out one kind 
of criminal justice to a poor man, a friendless man, or a man of a 
different race, and another kind of justice to a rich man, an influ- 
ential man, or a man of our own race without reaping the conse- 
quences. ' 

"From the Vicksburg Herald come these words (continued Mr. 
Storey) : ' The Herald looks ivitJi no favor upon drafting Southern 
Negroes at all, believing they should be exempt in toto because they 
do not equally ' share in the benefits of government. ' To say that they 
do is to take issue with the palpable truth. ' Taxation without repre- 
sentation,' the war-cry of the Revolutionary wrong against Great 
Britain, was not half so plain a wrong as requiring military service 



' GERMAN PROPAGANDA AMONG NEGROES 351 

from a class that is denied suffrage and which lives under such dis- 
criminations of inferiority as the 'Jim Crow' law and inferior school 
equipment and service.' " 

It was the attitude and just such sentiments as that voiced by 
the Vichshurg Herald as well as by a number of other Southern 
white newspapers, and by certain Senators and Congressmen, in- 
cluding Senator Vardaman, of Mississippi, that led the colored peo- 
ple of the United States to feel for a time that it was not desired that 
they should have any participation in the world-wide struggle for 
'' Freedom and Democracy." 

The prevalence of lynching Negroes in America had become so 
noticeable that not only the German press, but the newspapers and 
diplomatic representatives of other nations as well, have from time 
to time commented upon the practice as a sad reflection upon our 
boasted civilization, our high ideals, and our ability to preserve and 
enforce law and order. Pregnant with grave danger in time of 
peace, the lynching evil constituted an even greater menace in time 
of war, and when the epidemic began to spread and to include white 
victims as well as black victims, citizens of this country as well as 
citizens of foreign countries, the President of the United States saw 
fit to issue from the White House a strong public statement denounc- 
ing lynching and mob violence, and later, in New York City, on 
May 5th and 6th, 1919, a National Conference was held for the pur- 
pose of (1) promoting propaganda against lynching in every State 
of the Union; (2) urging the passage of Federal laws against lynch- 
ing, and (3) bringing about the formation of white and Negro com- 
mittees throughout the South to agitate against mob murders and 
the like. 

Propaganda Among Negroes in New York City 

How the Harlem colony of Negroes in New York City was stirred 
up or, in a measure, influenced by German propaganda, may be gath- 
ered from a letter written to Mr. George Creel, Chairman of the 
Committee on Public Information, by a well-known New York citi- 
zen, Mr. Trumbull White, whose wideawake patriotism and deep 
interest in the welfare of the Negro people are numbered among his 
many commendable virtues. His letter to Mr. Creel follows: 



S52 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

INVESTORS' PUBLIC SERVICE 

(Incorporated) 

149 Broadway, New York. 

March 15, 1918. 
Mr. George Creel, 

Chairman of the Committee on Public Information, 
Washington, D. C. 

Dear George: 

This is a matter which seems to me very important and immediate. 

The big Negro colony in Harlem is badly infected with a series of 
rumors arousing great distress and disquiet. I happen to know about it 
because of very intelligent colored servants at our house who have relatives 
in the Expeditionary Forces in France. 

The rumors are of various kinds. One is that the Negro regiments are 
being terribly abused by their white officers. Another is that the Negro 
regiments are being discriminated against in the distribution of troops 
where the danger and suffering will be the greatest. Another is that the 
Germans have vowed that they will torture all Negroes who may be cap- 
tured, in order to prove that this is a white man's war and that no Africans 
are wanted in Europe. Another is that already more than 200 Negro 
soldiers with eyes gouged out and arms cut off, after being captured by 
Germans and then turned loose by them to wander back to the American 
lines, have been sent home to this country and are now in the Columbia 
Base Hospital, No. 1, up in The Eironx. 

These rumors are spreading like wildfire in the Negro colony through 
churches, Negro papers, clubs and in general conversation. The colony is 
seething. I do not know whether German propaganda started the rumors 
or whether some even less responsible source is the cause. It is clear, how- 
ever, that serious harm can result and indeed is now resulting. 

I have two recommendations. One is that a permit be arranged for 
one Negro preacher, one Negro doctor, and one Negro woman of intelligence 
from that colony to be admitted to a complete inspection of the Base Hos^ 
pital, in order that they may report back to their own people the falsity 
of the stories. 

The other is that some lecturer, preferably Irvin Cobb, if he is in this 
country, be sent up to that colony to lecture at one of their big churches, 
specifically on the subject of what he has seen of the Negro troops in 
France, the work they are doing, and the conditions surrounding them. 
Cobb has the southern affection for the Negro and could do the thing right. 
Failing him, can you get a returned Negro minister, Y. M, C. A. worker, 
or wounded or invalided Negro private of intelligence to tackle that job? 



GERMAN PROPAGANDA AMONG NEGROES 353 

I will help arrange it through the Negro preachers and editors of the colony. 
I know that the matter should be expedited. Please do not think this 
matter a light one. As ever yours, 

(Signed) Trumbull White. 

The following press dispatch further indicates the kind of Ger- 
man propaganda which sought to influence the colored people in 
New York and elsewhere : 

New York, April 11, 1918.— After an alleged threat to kill an aged 
colored woman in Harlem; Max Freudenheim was arrested yesterday by 
Agent Davidson of the Department of Justice. He was sent to Newark 
jail to await inteniment proceedings. 

Charles F. DeWoody, Federal Investigating Chief here, left for Wash- 
ington last night. He will lay before Attorney General Gregory today an 
amazing story of German propaganda among Negroes, revealed by Freuden- 
heim 's arrest. 

Mr. DeWoody believes that behind Freudenheim 's activities for sev- 
eral months in Harlem lies a Berlin plan like the "Committee for the East," 
which had for its object the alienation of all the Jews in the world from 
the allies. 

It is known that the trail has led to several States. It was less than a 
year ago that the same sort of propaganda which had been made rife 
around One Hundred and Thirty-fifth street and Lenox avenue caused 
almost a panic among the Negroes of the South. Thousands of them left 
their homes and fled to Northern States at word of an uprising in favor of 
Germany which it was said would start in South America and Mexico and 
sweep through this country. 

Freudenheim, who is married and has three children, has been iu this 
country for eighteen years. He says he is an Austrian, but the Federal 
officials say he was born in Germany. 

Posing as an insurance solicitor, the man has been working in Harlem 
exclusively among Negroes. The Federal authorities say he would meet 
men and women and when the talk touched on the war, would declare: 

"Germany is sure to win this war and it is a good thing for you 
colored people that she will. Germany is the greatest friend the colored 
man ever had. All her colonies in East Africa were started to better the 
conditions of the black man. When she wins the war her intention is to 
start a colony exclusively for Negroes in one of the Southern States. This 
will be virtually a Black Republic. The colored men will choose their own 
rulers. 

"In this city the Negroes will get the recognition the United States 



354 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

has denied them so far. They will be made the social equals of white men." 
An elderly wpman whose mother was a slave freed by Lincoln's Eman- 
cipation Proclamation reported Freudenheim 's activities to Superintendent 
DeWoody. Men were sent to shadow the man. 

He was followed and his conversations were listened to. He discovered 
this, and within hearing of a Department of Justice agent he shouted to 
this' woman whom he suspected of betraying him: "I'll see that you are 
killed long before this war is over. Germany has many friends in New 
York and they will strike." 

As a part of tlie activities of German propagandists who were 
seeking to incite the Negro people of the United States to be disloyal 
to their country and to their flag, they constantly hinted that the 
Kaiser's love for the Negro was so great that if ever Germany should 
be triumphant and should win the war, he would dominate affairs in 
America and would parcel out one or more States of the Union where 
the Negro would be given real freedom and the full right of self- 
government. The utter fallacy of such false promises was clearly 
brought out by Harrison Rhodes (of the Vigilantes), the celebrated 
newspaper and magazine writer of New York City, who wrote an 
informing article which was printed in many of the leading news- 
papers throughout this country. 

In order to weaken the morale among colored American soldiers 
in France, German airships dropped among them all sorts of litera- 
ture, of which a typical example was given in Chapter XI. 

Thus it was, **with fightings within and foes without,'* the 
Negro soldiers and civilians of America stood firm against every 
temptation to divert them from their primary duty of helping to 
wiM the war. "What more remarkable and commendable record could 
be made, or has ever been made by any class of citizens than was 
made by Negro Ajnericans who remained steadfastly loyal to the 
Stars and Stripes notwithstanding the fact that they had been, and 
were being subjected to unjust and embarrassing conditions and 
discriminations which even the enemy government noticed, ridiculed, 
and condemned! It is a record which should, and doubtless will 
vouchsafe to this racial group not only the eternal respect and grati- 
tude of America but radical reforms and practical rewards befitting 
their unfaltering patriotism. 



CHAPTER XXV 
HOW COLORED CIVILIANS HELPED TO WIN 

Their Co-operation in All the Liberty Loan Drives — The Negro 
and the Red Cross — In the United War Work Campaign — How 
the Negroes Bought War Savings Stamps — Special Contribu- 
tions and Work of Colored Citizens — The "Committee of One 
Hundred" and Its Valuable Work. 

Not halting at the cheerful giving of their man-power through 
volunteer enlistment and under the operation of the selective draft, 
the 12,000,000 American Negroes contributed with equal cheerful- 
ness and promptness and liberality to the call of the Nation for 
their money-poiver. The total amount of money brought by 
Negroes to the country's relief through the sale of Liberty Bonds 
of the first, second, third, fourth and fifth issues, has not been 
carefully compiled, and may never be definitely known, because of 
the diffuse method by which the collections were made; but it is 
safe to say that the figures will run into many millions, represent- 
ing untold sacrifices and a measure of patriotism unexcelled by 
any similar number of citizens of the American Republic. 

To extend this good work the War Department and the Com- 
mittee on Public Information, charged with preserving the morale 
of the great body of American citizens, and especially of groups 
known to have what they term ** special grievances,*' decided that 
a vigorous campaign of education was necessary to instruct the 
Negro on the war aims of the Government, to secure at the hands 
of the race the full measure of co-operation which it was capable 
of giving. Early in May, 1918, therefore, a patriotic campaign was 
determined upon, and upon the recommendation of the author, 
the Committee on Public Information organized a "Committee of 
One Hundred," made up of strong, well-poised and thoroughly 
trained men, representing practically every organization of Negroes 
in the land, and having undisputed influence with all classes and 

355 



356 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

conditions of the Negro race throughout the land. Bishops and 
ministers of all denominations, editors of every kind of puhlica- 
tion, heads of every known fraternal organization, heads of educa- 
tional institutions, prominent factors in all of the professions, 
industries and business agencies formed a part of this unique 
body of missionaries and messengers. 

Zones of activity were worked out and men of varying qualifica- 
tions were given assignments where they could do the most ef- 
fective work for the cause at stake and to serve the United States 
Government in its hour of national emergency and need. These 
men, without exception, took hold of the work with a will, and 
their intensive campaign of education, driving home the war aims 
of the Government in a plain and straightforward fashion, had a 
powerful influence in inspiring a livelier patriotism throughout 
the race and encouraging them to engage whole-heartedly in the 
countless activities designed to help America to mn the war. 
Specially equipped by nature and by experience for dealing with 
collective humanity, the Committee of One Hundred performed its 
duty well, and their labors were made more potent for good by 
the close relationship they were able to establish with the State 
Councils of Defense in the North, East, South and West, from 
which they derived much valuable data which enabled them to 
counteract the particular disadvantage to patriotic endeavor in 
each of the communities they were called upon to visit and 
evangelize. 

The Fourth Loan Campaign 

At the opening of each specific campaign inaugurated by the 
Secretary of the Treasury for the flotation of the big loans, running 
into billions — a denomination which had heretofore held for the 
Negro, as well as for the white people, a very vague meaning — 
some well-known member of the race invariably launched the 
** drive" with a formal address, outlining the necessity'- for the 
money asked for and pointing out to the Negro the significance of 
a victory over the Teutonic allies in its relation to his future, 
as an integral factor in the American body politic. 

The Special Assistant Secretary of "War was asked to launch 
the Fourth Liberty Loan Campaign among the colored citizens of 



HOW COLORED CIVILIANS HELPED TO WIN 357 

the District of Columbia, and spoke at Howard Theatre, "Washing- 
ton, Saturday evening, October 29, 1918, as follows : 

''This is as the President says, the people's war. It is not a white 
man's Avar. It is not a black man's war. It is a war of all the people 
under the Stars and Stripes for the preservation of human liberty through- 
out the world. Civilization is in peril, and the natural rights of mankind 
are menaced for all time by the unholy aggressions of the Imperial 
German Government. The triumph of autocracy means the destruction 
of the Temple of Freedom which our fathers helped in 1776 to erect, and 
which their sons have sacrificed blood and treasure ever since to perpetu- 
ate. The failure of democracy in this mighty conflict will entail disaster 
upon humanity throughout generations beyond number. 

"The American Negro is beginning to realize that if the American 
white man is enslaved by reason of this Republic's inability to rout the 
Hun in the present struggle, the ultimate result will be his own re-enslave- 
ment and the loss of all that he has gained since the Emancipation 
Proclamation. His fate is indissolubly bound up with the fate of the 
Republic, and he must join with it, loyally, whole-heartedly and to the 
finish, in every movement that will add strength to the American arms 
in the death-grapple with Germany. This common purpose must be 
contended for by a common brotherhood. 

** Already, the Negro has responded promptly and cheerfully to 
the call for his man-power, and three times since the declaration of war 
against the Imperial German Government he has answered generously, 
readily and Avithout stint to the call for his money -power. 

Now comes a fourth call for financial aid and it is not doubted that 
the 12,000,000 free colored Americans, who wish to remain free, will 
again respond with the same or greater measure of liberality and en- 
thusiasm that has characterized them when the previous demands were 
made. 

* 'Appropriately, indeed — in view of the onward march of General 
Pershing's Invincible Crusaders on France's western front, the Fourth 
Liberty Loan is styled "The Fighting Loan." Black men are among 
these Crusaders. We who must remain at home are in duty bound to 
lend the limit of our aid to those who have gone abroad to bare their 
breasts to shot and shell in defense of our flag and the sacred ideals 
for which it stands. We cannot do this in a more effective way than to 
offer our dollars to sustain the Government — fhe only Government 
we know— and its fighting men while they are braving death, to insure 
freedom and justice to all mankind. Even as they are making their 



358 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

bayonet fight in protection of the jewel of liberty, we can make our 
DOLLARS fight to gird up their loins for stronger efforts in trench and 
on field. 

'*We can all rest assured that the response of the colored millions 
to the fourth call for financial aid will be in keeping with our public- 
spirited and intensely patriotic rallies of the past. The success of the 
Fourth Liberty Loan should overtop all of its predecessors in the volume 
of subscriptions accredited to the Negro race everywhere, and this 
should be the absorbing mission of colored ministers, editors, teachers, 
merchants, lawyers, doctors and speakers and workers day by day and 
night by night until that objective is gained. *He gives twice who gives 
quickly.' Let us buy bonds — and then buy more hands! 

"Every dollar loaned, every sacrifice made, every useful service per- 
formed will give to ourselves the rich consciousness of duty well done 
and will tend to win for the colored American everywhere the fullest 
measure of American opportunity." 

This address was sent out by Mr. Frank R. Wilson, Director of 
Publicity for the United States Treasury Department, to all 
Directors of Publicity, as an appeal to be addressed to the colored 
people of the United States. 

Secretary W. G. McAdoo, of the United States Treasury, made 
public acknowledgment of the whole-souled cooperation of the 
colored people throughout the country in connection with the 
Liberty Loan ** drives." 

War Savings Stamps Purchased by Negroes 

Although it has not been possible to keep any accurate record of 
the amount of War Savings Stamps purchased by colored people 
throughout the country, the scattering reports and personal observa- 
tions of individuals everywhere indicate that the total is very large. 
The stamps are purchased through so many and such widely-sep- 
arated agencies that no accurate comj)ilation by race or creedal 
groups can be attempted with any hope of success. 

A typical instance of the aggressive work done by the War 
Stamps committees of the colored people is found in the District of 
Columbia, where during a drive of eight weeks among the children 
of the public schools, a sale averaging $800 per week was reported — 
this period covering the months of March and April, 1918. About 
the same time, the Washington Citizens* Committee on W. S. S.j 



HOW COLORED CIVILIANS HELPED TO WIN 359 

headed by Dr. W. A. Warfield and Dr. D. E. Wiseman, collected 
$52,000 through their own plan of campaign, in addition to the im- 
mense sums subscribed through the government departments and 
commercial houses where colored people were largely employed. It 
cannot be doubted that the Washington example was repeated many 
times over in the many communities all over the land where colored 
people are found in appreciable numbers. 

Subscribers to the ** Victory" Loan 

The ''Victory" issue of Liberty bonds found colored Americans 
ready to help the nation finish the job of winning the war, to help 
furnish funds to bring the boys back home, and to pay the cost con- 
nected with the establishment of freedom and democracy for the 
world. 

Throughout the entire country colored organizations and colored 
leaders set in motion forces which brought from the colored people 
a response which again served to indicate the willingness of the 
Negro people to help bring the war to a close with the last of the 
**drives" for money to complete the financing of the cost of the war. 

Mr. John W. Lewis, president of the Industrial Savings Bank, 
Washington, estimates that the colored people of the District of 
Columbia purchased $2,200,000 worth of the First, Second, Third 
and Fourth issues of Liberty bonds. He arrived at this total by 
checking up as far as was possible the amounts known to have been 
subscribed by colored men and women through the banks, the Fed- 
eral departments, and business houses. The Fifth or ''Victory 
Loan" was taken quite largely by Negroes in the Government serv- 
ice, and by persons in private employment as well. For the Fifth 
Liberty Loan the total subscribed for through his Industrial Savings 
Bank amounted to something more than $30,000, the investors being 
exclusively colored. 

Help for the American Red Cross 

Notwithstanding certain lack of information at the outset rela- 
tive to the attitude of the authorities responsible for the management 
of the American Red Cross Society, the masses of the Negro people 
early came to realize the vast benefits accruing to them through the 
universal operations of this great agent of mercy and humanity, 



360 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

and in every community where the colored people constituted any 
large per cent of the population, they rallied to the standard of the 
Eed Cross. They gave freely of their means, invariably at a large 
personal sacrifice, and strove earnestly, early and late through exist- 
ing organizations or to perfect additional organizations for the fur- 
therance of this movement. 

In the ''drive" of the American Red Cross for a relief fund 
of $100,000,000 in 1918, the colored citizens of the country contrib- 
uted their proportionate share. In the churches, schools, theaters, 
and on the streets, colored speakers eloquently pointed out the duty 
of the race to give liberally to the fund and women and children 
daily took up collections in all kinds of public places, and with grati- 
fying results. 

Negroes in Councils of Defense 

The State Councils Section of the Council of National Defense 
early recognized the importance of having the colored people organ- 
ize under Councils of Defense as was true of other citizens of the 
republic. It was with this thought in mind that Mr. Arthur H. 
Fleming, Chief of the State Council Section, addressed the letter 
following to the Southern State Councils of Defense with refer- 
ence to this matter, since the great mass of the Negro population 
is to be found in the Southern section of our country : 

COUNCIL OF NATIONAL DEFENSE 

WASHINGTON 

State Council Section February 23, 1918. 

Subject: Organization of tlie Negroes. 

To the Several Southern State Councils of Defense: 

The Negro population can render valuable assistance in the present crisis. 
Their support of the Government depends largely on their clear understand- 
ing of the events which involved the United States in the war, and the 
purposes and principles which it is upholding. To this end we call to your 
attention a plan for the organization of Negroes based upon the most success- 
ful work for reaching them already accomplished by State Councils of 
Defense and State Divisions of the Woman's Committee in the South. We 
ask your opinion of this plan as to its wisdom both in general and in the 
light of the local conditions in your own State. 



HOW COLORED CIVILIANS HELPED TO WIN 361 

We hope that this matter will receive your thoughtful consideration 
and that you will advise us promptly as to your views. 

Yours very truly, 

Arthur H. Fleming, 

Chief of Section. 
The result of the plan refen^d to was the successful organiza- 
tion of Negroes under the State Councils of Defense. 

The Negro Press 

An outstanding force that helped to win the war was the Negro 
press of the country. Aside from the effective work done by this 
aggressive element of power through the conference of Editors at 
Washington, which is referred to elsewhere, the press was an asset 
of incalculable value in pushing the war work among colored people 
by the regular publication of the bulletins of information the Special 
Assistant caused to be sent out from the War Department week 
after week, beginning shortly after the assumption of his duties. 
His mailing list embraced more than two hundred Negro journals 
and magazines, having a large circulation in practically every State 
in the Union, and reaching every class of the Negro millions, North, 
East, South and West, besides the Speakers' ''Committee of One 
Hundred" and many newspaper correspondents, special writers, 
heads of schools and colleges and men of influence and standing in 
the strategic centers of the nation. 

This service proved to be of the greatest possible assistance to 
those charged with the conduct of the war, as it won and held the 
confidence of the people, maintaining their morale and stimulating 
their patriotism at the crucial hour, when the nation needed the loyal 
and earnest cooperation of every element of its citizenship to assure 
victory to its cause. Our editors were conservative on all current 
questions, at no sacrifice of courage and absolute frankness in the 
upholding of principles. The author has always held to the belief 
that the only way to gain the united and cordial support of the people 
is to take them entirely into one's confidence and to throw upon the 
screen of action the full glare of publicity touching every plan, policy 
or achievement, withholding nothing that might lead to a suspicion 
that behind the veil of secrecy there might lurk something that could 
not stand the light of day. 

The superb and generous support given to the war aims of the 



362 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Government by the colored press was one of the most gratifying 
features of the trying conflict, and unstinted praise should be given 
the colored editors and publishers for their timely services and count- 
less sacrifices, all cheerfully contributed in behalf of the nation's 
cause. 

Helping to Save Food 

The Food Administration, of which Mr. Herbert Hoover was 
Director, recognizing the importance of having the support of the 
large colored civilian population, gave attention to organizing them. 
Some work had been done among the Negroes through one of the 
divisions of the Educational Department of the Food Administra- 
tion, and during the carrying out of the preliminary features of this 
program, A. U. Craig, a teacher of the Paul Laurence Dunbar High 
School, "Washington, D. C, was for awhile in charge of the Negro 
Press Section of the Educational Division. About September 30, 
1918, he gave up his work as director of that section, which was 
discontinued. 

A colored Field Worker, Ernest T. Attwell, who for fifteen years 
or more had served as Business Agent of the Tuskegee Normal and 
Industrial Institute, Alabama, was made organizer, first for the 
State of Alabama, and afterwards for the Southern States. In 
September, 1918, his activities were enlarged and he was brought 
to Washington where from September, 1918, to January 1, 1919, 
he served as director of the activities of the colored people from 
the headquarters of the Food Administration organization. 

Mr. Hoover's Appeal to the Negro 

The campaign of the Food Administration among the colored 
people was opened by a strong appeal made by Director Herbert 
Hoover, who circulated an open letter to the 12,000,000 Negroes of 
the United States, asking for their cooperation as a unit everywhere 
to help in general food conservation. The appeal indicated a deep 
appreciation of the potential value of cooperation on the part of 
this racial group, of which over 2,000,000 were engaged in agricul- 
tural pursuits, and, therefore, exerted a tremendous influence in 
solving the problem of raising food crops. Thousands of the race 
were also engaged in the domestic occupations, buying and dispens- 
ing provisions for the use of many families, serving as cooks, stew- 



HOW COLORED CIVILIANS HELPED TO WIN 



363 



ards, etc., for hotels, clubs, institutions and restaurants of every 
conceivable size and grade. This kind of service placed them largely 
in control of the food consumption in the homes, not only of their 
own people, but of other races as well. The program of Mr. Hoover 
contemplated the thorough organization of this important group by, 
first, naming a national director, in the person of Mr. Attwell, and 



An Appeal to the Negroes of 
THE United States 

OUR Nation is engaged in a war for its very exist- 
ence. To win this war we must save food, grow 
great crops of foodstiiffs and substitute other foods 
for those most easily shipped to our associates in 
th-'swarand our own soldiers in France, thousands of 
whom are men of your own race. The Food Adminis- 
tration realizes that the" Negro people of this Nation 
can be of the utmost help in food conservation and 
food production. Every Negro man, woman, and 
child can render a definite service by responding to 
the appeal and instructions of the Food Administra- 
tion and its representatives. The Negroes have shown 
themselves loyal and responsive in every national cri- 
sis. Their greatest opportunity of the present day, 
to exercise this loyalty, is to help save and grow 
food. I am confident that they will respond to the 
suggestions of the Food Administration and thus 
prove again their patriotism for the winning of this 

war. 

Herbert Hoover 



then the appointment of Negro State Directors, county deputies, 
local food committees, and like agencies, taking in every class of 
helpers, with a view of mobilizing all forces for the purpose of stimu- 
lating propaganda work along the line of increased food production 
and the conservation of the supplies in hand. Mr. Hoover's appeal 
is reproduced in facsimile above. 



364 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

One year of food conservation found a colored organization in 
each of the following named States, with Negro directors as indi- 
cated: Alabama, J. H. Phillips; Arkansas, Milton W. Guy; Florida, 
Nathan B. Young; Georgia, J. P. Davis; Illinois, Alexander L. Jack- 
son; Indiana, F. B. Ransom; Iowa, Herbert R. Wright; Kentucky, 
Phil H. Brown; Louisiana, J. Madison Vance; Maryland, C. C. Fitz- 
gerald; North Carolina, James B. Dudley; Oklahoma, T. H. Wise- 
man; South Carolina, R. W. Westberry; Missouri, J. B. Coleman; 
Tennessee, William J. Hale ; Texas, E. J. Howard ; West Virginia, 
C. E. Mitchell; New York, E. P. Roberts. 

The publicity system adopted by the Colored Section served 
to arouse the masses to the necessity for food conservation and 
production, to supply home needs and to replace the enormous 
amount of foodstuffs lost at sea on the way to. the allied govern- 
ments. Besides numerous news releases to the colored press a 
series of striking pamphlets were issued, notable among them 
being one bearing the admonition, ''Don't Cut the Rope!" Illus- 
trated lectures, moving pictures slides in the theaters, public cooking 
demonstrations, etc., formed a part of the publicity campaign so 
well carried out by Director Attwell. 

The signing of the armistice did not cause the immediate 
discontinuance of the Food Administration, and the organization 
of food clubs went on as before. The Director of the Negro Sec- 
tion saw to it that every Negro home was reached with the propa- 
ganda of "keeping on in the good work." During ''Conservation 
Week for World Relief," the first week in December, 1918, Mr. 
Attwell addressed large meetings in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, 
at which he pointed out the necessity for continued conservation 
of food, in view of the fact that contracts for the current year 
called for not less than twenty million tons of food products for 
European countries. In all respects the results flowing out of 
the activities of the Negro Section of the National Food Adminis- 
tration amply justified its creation and the unstinted praise which 
Director Hoover and other governmental agents so cheerfully 
bestowed upon it. 



CHAPTER XXVI 

NEGRO LABOR IN WAR TIME 

Organization for War Work — The Division of Negro Economics — 
Pioneer Work of Dr. George E. Haynes — Negro Representation 
in Council — Seeking to Improve Race Relations — Good Work 
hy Negroes in the Shipyards — Attitude of Organized Labor — 
The Opportunities of the War. 

Because of unsettled conditions among the Negro people 
migrating hither and thither during the World War, and still 
more disturbed conditions obtaining among them after the inter- 
vention of the United States in the great struggle, it was deemed 
necessary to make a scientific study of Negro labor and establish 
an organization for its direction. After considering the available 
material, the Secretary of Labor decided, in June, 1918, to call 
as one of his assistants to take charge of this work. Dr. George 
E. Haynes, founder of the Urban League and Professor of Social 
Sciences at Fisk University. Dr. Haynes 's work was that of a 
director of the Division of Negro Economics, around which the 
organization to carry out these purposes would be organized and 
from which it would receive its direction. 

As no special effort had hitherto been made in this field. Dr. 
Haynes came to his task largely as a pioneer. His first effort 
was to arouse interest in his cause through personal interviews 
and conferences with public-spirited citizens of both races. North 
and South. He, therefore, approached school officials, State Coun- 
cils of National Defense, Chambers of Commerce, the United States 
EmplojTuent Service, social welfare organizations, and educational 
societies. 

Interest was soon manifested far and wide. The proposed 
work of the Department of Labor with reference to the Negroes 
was given careful consideration at a meeting of the Southern 

365 



366 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Sociological Congress held at Gulfport, Mississippi, July 12, 1918. 
Soon there followed a State conference of representative white 
and Negro citizens at Jacksonville, Florida, called by Governor 
Sydney J. Catts, who presided at a number of the sessions. On 
August 5, 1918, a conference was called at Columbus, Ohio, by 
the Department of Negro Economics mth the cooperation of the 
Federal Director of the United States Employment Service and 
Governor James M. Cox. 

In the meantime conferences of more satisfactory results 
were being held. The first of these was that called by Governor 
Bickett of North Carolina, on June 19, 1918. At this meeting the 
Governor appointed a temporary committee^ which drafted a 
constitution providing for a State Negro Workers' Advisory Com- 
mittee and for the organization of local, county, and city com- 
mittees. This plan of organization, with slight modifications and 
adjustments for other States, served as a model for the develop- 
ment of voluntary field organizations for the Southern States and 
six Northern States. 

An important conference was then held in Kentucky on 
August 6, 1918. There were both white and colored representa- 
tives in attendance. This conference was unique in that the plan 
of organization adopted was that of a united war work com- 
mittee, with a special committee of white citizens appointed by 
the State Council of Defense as cooperating members. This war 
work committee included representatives from the Department 
of Agriculture, the United States Food Administration, the Red 
Cross, the Council of Defense, and the Department of Labor. 
Governor A. 0. Stanley of Kentucky attended the morning session 
and made an enthusiastic address to the delegates. Very soon 
thereafter the influence of the State conferences so proved their 
effectiveness and their usefulness as a means of forwarding the 
State movement and creating good feeling and a favorable senti- 
ment that other conferences followed almost as a matter of course. 
The most important of these were held in Georgia, Missouri, Illi- 
nois, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey, and steps were 
taken for conferences or central organization of the work either 
in New York or South Carolina. 



NEGRO LABOR IN WAR TIME 367 

Improving Race Relations 
The Division of Negro Economics also called upon the In- 
formation and Education Service to carry out the departmental 
plan for publicity and educational campaigns to improve race 
relations of workers and to increase the morale and efficiency of 
Negro workers. The Division also assisted the Bureau of Indus- 
trial Housing and Transportation in carrying out its purposes. 
It welcomed also the cooperation of the Public Health Service in 
its educational campaign among Negro workers, and maintained a 
similar cooperative relationship with the War Department through 
the office of the Special Assistant to the Secretary of War. 

Good Work in the Shipyards 

It has often been reported that the Division of Negro Eco- 
nomics withheld from rather than conferred upon the Negro the 
benefits resulting from the scarcity of labor during the World 
War. For example, Negroes were employed in large numbers in 
the shipyards, then undertaking to furnish the fleets adequate 
to the task of transporting American soldiers to France. In the 
early part of the war the Negroes as illustrated by the unusual 
record of Charles Knight, at Sparrow's Point, Maryland, exhibited 
the highest efficiency as riveters in the shipyards. But their 
increase in efficiency did not lead to an increase in the number 
employed in the various shipyards. The same condition of affairs, 
for instance, obtained in the employment of Negroes at Hog 
Island. After they had manifested the same evidences of efficiency, 
they suffered from most invidious discriminations while endeavor- 
ing to contribute their part to the w^inning of the war. These unto- 
ward conditions tended to continue, and wiiile the number of 
Negroes employed by the United States Government increased, 
the Government did little to facilitate their entering the higher 
pursuits of labor. 

It is unfair, however, to charge to the account of Dr. Haynes, 
the Director of the Division of Negro Economics, the shortcomings 
of the Department of Labor or of the United States Government. 
It is decidedly unjust and ludicrous that in the midst of all of these 
injustices to the Negro laborer there was no effort on the part 
of the Department to do anything to relieve the situation. A 



368 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

public official is not always in a position every time to divulge 
exactly what his attitude in a certain situation may be, or whether 
or not he has taken any steps leading to definite action in matters 
coming before him for consideration. It may safely be assumed 
that Dr. Haynes, at all times and in every way possible, did what 
he could to secure to the Negro laborer the recognition and the 
remuneration belonging to every man, and in some of these cases 
he succeeded. That he failed in materially changing the attitude 
of the Department of Labor or of the country toward the Negro, 
should not excite surprise. If reformers have had, according to 
history, to labor for years to effect a change in public opinion it 
is ludicrous to expect that one colored man could, by holding office 
' two years in a Department of the United States Government solve 
the economic problems of the race. 

Attitude of Organized Labor 

During these same years other forces were at work to assist 
in the solution of the same problems. Organized labor had become 
somewhat excited and finally concluded that because of a scarcity 
of labor it would soon need the support of the Negro. During 
these, their trying hours, therefore, leading Negroes of the country 
were approached with a view to obtaining their support toward the 
end of organizing all Negro wage-earners. 

This proposal did not generally appeal to the Negroes through- 
out the United States. Their attitude was rather, *' Beware of the 
Greeks bearing gifts." Negroes had for so many years been 
barred by the trades unions and had suffered so much at their 
hands that they saw in this change of attitude only some ad- 
vantage which the trades unions hoped to obtain thereby. ^Tiy 
was it that no effort had ever been put forth by white unions in 
all these years when the Negro was forced to work for starvation 
wages? Why is it that Negro laborers have been driven away and 
in some cases, as in East St. Louis, exterminated by the agents 
of the trades unions — and could now be received with open arms? 
''Believing that the need of Negro labor was absolute and im- 
perative in unionized territory and that efforts to exclude the 
Negro from employment would be futile," said these Negroes, 
''great solicitude was then expressed for the Negro, at the very 



NEGRO LABOR IN WAR TIME 369 

time that he was so well treated and so well paid and his pros- 
pects for even better treatment so much brighter." Some Negroes, 
therefore, advised that nothing could be hoped for but base be- 
trayal, and that it would be a blunder to surrender their inde- 
pendence to accept work when they could get it, and on terms 
suitable to their own peculiar needs. They openly declared that 
trades unions were planning, not for the Negroes but for the 
whites, and Negro leaders were cautioned not to be induced thereby 
and advised the people not to accept these "gifts of the Greeks," 
who intended thereby merely to control the Negroes for their own 
good, having seen that they could no longer keep them do^\^l. 

These leaders, however, did not oppose the organization of 
the laborers of their race in separate units primarily concerned 
with their own welfare, but maintaining their independence of the 
white unions. They were urged to unite among themselves, but 
not to connect with any movement which convenienced, encouraged, 
or incited lawlessness, or that sought to prevent men who desired 
to work from working because they did not wear the badge of an 
organization. Complying with such suggestions a number of 
Negroes' organizations were formed. Chief among these was that 
of the Associated Colored Employees of America, which aimed 
to bring about a systematic distribution of laborers. 

The Opportunities of the War 

The majority of the Negroes of this country, however, were 
not of this opinion. They felt that the time had come for the two 
races to unite and this was its greatest opportunity. As a step in 
this direction the American Federation of Labor at its meeting 
in Buffalo in 1917 passed a resolution to this effect. On the 12th 
of February in 1918, therefore, the Council of the American 
Federation of Labor met according to appointment a number of 
representative Negroes who were invited to discuss with that 
body plans for carrying out these resolutions. Among the persons 
invited were Dr. R. R. Moton, Principal of Tuskegee; Mr. Emmett 
J. Scott, Special Assistant to the Secretary of War; Mr. George 
W. Harris, Editor of the New York News; Mr. A. H. Grimke, 
President of the Washington Branch, National Association for 
the Advancement of Colored People; Mr. E. K. Jones, Ex- 



370 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

ecutive Secretary of the League on Urban Conditions Among 
Negroes; Mr. John Shillady, Secretary of the National Associa- 
tion for the Advancement of Colored People, and Mr. Fred R. 
Moore, Editor of the New York Age. 

These gentlemen, representing the colored people, set forth 
as a vital war measure the necessity for the removal of the 
barriers preventing Negroes from entering the higher pursuits of 
labor. They asked that the American Federation of Labor organ- 
ize the Negroes in the various trades to include skilled as well 
as unskilled workmen. Northern as well as Southern; Government 
as well as civilian employees; women as well as men workers. 
They wanted Negro labor directed by the American Federation 
of Labor in the same way as white labor, when workmen are 
returning to work after a successful strike, when shops are declared 
open or closed, and when union workers apply for jobs. 

When the American Federation of Labor held its meeting in 
Atlantic City, New Jersey, in June, 1919, it voted with only one dis- 
senting vote, and that the Eailway Postal Clerks' Union, to give full 
membership rights to Negro wage-earners. The discussion of the 
question, and there were some seven hundred delegates in the con- 
vention, was very general, broad and fair, with few exceptions. 
For some time past Negroes have enjoyed membership privileges in 
the Federation, but in a restricted sense only. It now remains for 
them to make their standing in the American Federation what it 
should be. Several causes contributed toward this decision. The 
World War taught the American Federation and all others that Ne- 
groes were prepared, by the industrial and technical teaching and in- 
struction they have been subjected to for the past twenty-five years, 
to do the highly necessary work required by the Government and the 
essential industry corporations ; while the migration movement indi- 
cated that there was plenty of labor to be had for the asking. 

The Case of Mrs. Douglass 

As soon as the Special Assistant to the Secretary of War en- 
tered upon his duties in the War Department he found that there was 
need of building up a healthy morale among the colored people. 
Aside from what seemed to be a regular epidemic of racial disturb- 
ances culminating in riots, lynching, mob violence, and the like, he 
found many other conditions that were making for disquiet and 



NEGRO LABOR IN WAR TIME 371 

unrest. Although colored men were being drafted and called to fight 
for their country on battlefields abroad, many of their relatives and 
dependents at home, even those upon the Civil Service register as 
eligible for appointment, were being dv.:iied employment and dis- 
criminated against in nearly every branch of the departmental service 
in Washington. One of the first cases brought to his attention was 
that of a cultured and refined young colored woman, a relative by 
marriage of the late Frederick Douglass, the great Negro leader. 
She had met the Civil Service requirements, had been duly certified 
to serve the Government as ''Index and Catalogue Clerk," but when 
she reported for duty and was found to have an admixture of Negro 
blood, she was told that a ''MISTAKE HAD BEEN MADE/' 
Manifestly the same racial discrimination was practiced in dozens 
of similar cases, and led to the author's taking up the matter with a 
number of the Government ofiicials who were responsible for such 
injustices. While he always recognized the fact that his duties were 
primarily to look after the interests of colored soldiers, yet as far 
as was practicable, he endeavored to look after the interests of col- 
ored civilians as well, and the attached correspondence concerning 
the young woman above referred to is typical of his efforts in this 
direction, though he frankly admits that such cases of racial dis- 
crimination in the Government bureaus at Washington have been far 
too numerous for him to give to each of them the personal attention 
required : 

December 13, 1917. 

Memorandum — For Lieut. Ernest J. Wesson, 

Officer ill Charge, Civilian Personnel Section, 
Administration Division, U. S. Signal Corps : 

At the instance of Dean F. P. Keppel, Confidential Adviser, Office of the 
Secretary of War, I am writing you in the following matter which has been 
brought to my attention. 

Mrs. Fannie H. Douglass, 910 T Street, N. W., Washington, D. C, has 
brought to the Office of the Secretary of War, a telegram received by her, 
dated December 7, 1917, which reads as follows: 

"Mrs. Fannie H. Douglass, 329 You St., N. W. (which was her former 
address), Washington, D. C. : 

"Your name certified by Civil Service Commission for appointment 
Chief Signal Officer, twelve hundred dollars per annum ; if you accept, report 



372 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

as soon as possible, Room 826, IVIills Building Annex, this city, for duty. Wire 
reply, Government, collect. 

(Signed) Squire, Chief Signal Officer." 

Mrs. Douglass states that she telegraphed her acceptance of the offer, and 
reported for duty as requested; that she was given certain blank forms to 
fill out; that she filled out the forms given her, and that a detached portion, 
headed: "The appointee will detach this portion of the sheet and retain it 
for his information and guidance," was given her, which detached portion she 
has brought to the Office of the Secretary of War ; and that, after these pro- 
ceedings, she was informed that "there liad heen a mistake." 

Inquiry at the office of the Appointment Division elicits the information 
that Mrs. Fannie H. Douglass was certified to the office of the Chief Signal 
Officer on December 6, 1917, as Index and Catalogue Clerk, grade of clerk- 
ship for which she had been examined, and to which position she has been 
certified. 

Will you kindly let me have, for the Secretary of War, aU the facts bear- 
ing on this matter? 

(Signed) Emmett J. Scott, 
Special Assistant to Secretary of War. 

War Department, Washington, December 15, 1917. 
Memorandum — Mr. Emmett J. Scott, 
Special Assistant, 

Office of Secretary of War. 

In reply to yours of December 13, 1917, you are advised from the in- 
vestigation in this office it would appear that Mrs. Fannie H. Douglass has 
been the innocent victim of a series of unfortunate errors. The facts sur- 
rounding this case are as follows : 

On December 6th the Equipment Division of the Signal Corps applied 
for certification of a large number of Index and Catalogue Clerks, This ap- 
plication was referred to the Appointment Division by telephone and this 
office was informed that all certificates covering the eligibles for this position 
were in the Ordnance Department, that these people probably being engaged 
in that Department, this office was authorized to make temporary'- appoint- 
ments of that grade. The Equipment Division informed the undersigned 
that they had the names of persons at various points in the United States to 
fill these positions. Upon receipt of this authority to make temporary ap- 
pointments they were to telegraph these persons to come to Washington, D. C, 
and did so. Shortly afterwards fourteen certificates covering eligibles for 
the position of Index and Catalogue Clerks were received in this office from 



NEGRO LABOR IN WAR TIME 373 

the Appointment Division, they undoubtedly having received these from the 
Civil Service Commission subsequent to our telephonic conversation. 

In view of the fact that a large number of persons had been directed to 
proceed to Washington at their own expense from various parts of the United 
States to accept temporary appointments, the undersigned did not care to 
take any action on these certificates, knowing that vacancies would shortly 
occur in the Air Division in which the appointees covered by such certificates 
could be placed. Nevertheless, through clerical error, all of these persons 
were notified by telegram. However, Mrs. Douglass was the first person to 
report, and as no transportation had been involved in her case, and further, 
that upon questioning the clerk in this office, who handles these matters, it 
was found that Mrs. Douglass had not given up her position and would not 
suffer any pecuniary loss, the undersigned instructed this clerk to inform Mrs. 
Douglass that she had been notified to appear through error, this due to the 
fact that vacancies existing had been filled by temporary appointments and it 
seemed hardly just to displace these persons who had come to Washington at 
their own expense, and that the undersigned had full knowledge that further 
openings were to occur in the near future when the sersdces of all Index and 
Catalogue clerks could be utilized. 

At a later date, which cannot be recalled, Mrs. Douglass called at this 
office and was voluntarily informed by the undersigned that vacancies were 
now existing and she would receive telegram in due time to report to this 
office for duty. 

With reference to Mrs. Douglass filling out the blank forms, you are 
advised that the first impression in this office was that she had been certified 
as a Departmental Clerk, certain statements on her papers that she had 
taken the Departmental examination, being the cause of this error, and it 
was not until after these forms had been completed, was it determined that 
she had been erroneously summoned as Index and Catalogue Clerk. 

Mrs. Douglass has been notified to appear for duty Monday morning 
next, as Index and Catalogue Clerk. 

By direction of the Chief Signal Officer, 

(Signed) E. J. Wesson, 

1st Lt., Signal Corps, U. S. R. 

It is worth while remarking that this young woman proved so 
capable and painstaking that she was afterward placed in charge of 
the group of young women who did the file-indexing in her division. 



CHAPTER XXVII 

NEGRO WOMEN IN WAR WORK 

Enthusiastic Service of Colored Women in the Wartime Emergency 
— Overcoming the Problems of Race by Pure Patriotism — 
Work for the Red Cross — The Young Women's Christian As- 
sociation — The Colored Hostess Houses and Rest Rootns for 
Soldiers — War Problems of Living — The Circle for Negro 
War Relief — Colored Women in the Loan Drives — Important 
Work in War Industries. 

By Alice Dunbae-Nelson 

When the world war began, even before the United States 
had entered the conflict, the women of this country were thrilled 
as women have ever been since wars began, with the desire to 
serve. As if in anticipation of the days soon to come when their 
own men would be sent forth to battle, they began to sew and 
knit and plan relief work for the men of other nations. It was 
but an earnest of the days to come, when every nerve of the nation 
would be strained to care for its own men. 

When, after that day in April, 1917, so filled with direful pos- 
sibilities for the nation, the women realized that they were indeed 
to be called upon, to give up their all, there was but one desire 
in the hearts of all the women of the country — to do their utmost 
for the men who were about to go forth to battle for an ideal. 
Overnight careless idlers were transformed into busy workers; 
social butterflies into earnest grubs; thoughtless girls into poised 
women; card clubs into knitting circles; aspirants to social honors 
into workers whose sole ambition was to be a definite factor in 
helpful service. Where there had been petty bickering, there was 
now a realization that this was no time for the small things of 
life. The one common sorrow of loss of the men dearest to them, 
of seeing their sons, brothers, fathers and husbands in the great 
conflict, welded together the women of the nation, and purged the 
dross of littleness from their souls by the fire of service. 

374 



NEGRO WOMEN IN WAR WORK 375 

One thing which served to strengthen and intensify the 
feeling of responsibility and seriousness of the women of the 
country was the fact that for the first time in the history of the 
world, a nation at war recognized its women as a definite asset in 
the conduct of the war. Hitherto, her place had been that of 
those in the poem, ''For men must work, and women must weep." 
Hers was the task of sending her men forth to return with their 
shields or upon them, while she remained at home to weep and 
perhaps make bandages against the return of her wounded men. 
As a factor in the war she was nil, save in those isolated and abor- 
tive cases in history where she became an Amazon or a Molly 
Pitcher. 

But in April, 1917, all this was changed! The nation called 
upon its women to do definite and constructive work, far-reaching 
and real. It called them not only to nurse the wounded, but to 
conserve the health of those at home; not only to give aid and 
comfort to the fighting men, but to preserve the health and morals 
of the women whom they must meet, love, and marry; not only 
to make bandages for the stricken soldiers, but to provide ambu- 
lances and even drive them; not only to give love and tears, but 
money, which they raised from every legitimate source; not only 
to cheer the men as they marched to the front, but to keep up the 
morale of those left at home; and to fan into a flame the sparks 
of patriotism in the breasts of those whom the country denied the 
privilege of bearing arms. With one stroke the Government 
organized every woman of the nation into an inclusive body, and 
mobilized the formerly overlooked greatest asset of the nation. 

Into this maelstrom of war activity the women of the Negro 
race hurled themselves joyously. They asked no odds, remembered 
no grudges, solicited no favors, pleaded for no privileges. They 
came by the thousands, hands opened wide to give of love and 
service and patriotism. It was enough for them that their country 
v/as at war; it was enough for them that there was work to do. 
Centuries of labor had taught them the love of labor; a heritage 
of service had taught them the beauty of giving of themselves, and 
a race record of patriotism and loyalty had imbued them inlierently 
with the flaming desire to do their part in the struggle of their 
native land. 



376 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

The problem of the woman of the Negro race was a peculiar 
one. Was she to do her work independently of the women of the 
other race, or was she to merge herself into their organizations! 
There were separate regiments for Negro soldiers; should there 
be separate organizations for relief work among Negro women? 
If she joined relief organizations, such as the Red Cross Society, 
and worked with them, would she be assured that her handiwork 
would reach black hands on the other side of the world, or should 
she be great-hearted and give her service, sunply for the sake 
of giving, not caring who was to be benefited ? Could she be sure 
that when she offered her services she would be understood as 
desiring to be a help, and not wishing to be an associate? As is 
usually the case when any problem presents itself to the nation at 
large, the Negro faces a double problem should he essay a solu- 
tion — the great issue and the lesser problem of racial adjustment to 
that issue. 

However, the women of the race cut the Gordian knot with 
magnificent simplicity. They offered their services and gave them 
freely, in whatsoever form was most pleasing to the local organiza- 
tions of white women. They accepted without a murmur the place 
assigned them in the ranks. They placed the national need before 
the local prejudice; they put great-heartedness and pure patriotism 
above the ancient creed of racial antagonism. For pure, unalloj^ed 
unselfishness of the highest order, the conduct of the Negro v.'omen 
of the United States during the world war stands out in splendid 
relief, a lesson to the entire world of what womanhood of the best 
type really means. 

Colored Women and the Red Cross 

At the very beginning of the war, the first organization to 
which the women of the country naturally turned was the Eed 
Cross Society. It was to be expected that the colored v>^oman, pre- 
eminently the best nurse in the world, would necessarily turn 
to the Red Cross Society as a field in which to exercise her peculiar 
gifts. Red Cross branches were organized in practically every 
community in the country. Yet it is extremely difficult to tell just 
what the contribution of the colored woman has been to this organi- 
zation. We are told that, **The American Red Cross during the 
war enlisted workers ^^ithout regard to creed or color and no 



NEGRO WOMEN IN WAR WORK 377 

separate records were maintained of the work of any particular 
Auxiliary. We know that some eight million women worked for 
the Red Cross in one way or another during the war, but we have 
no figures indicating how many of them were colored." 

In the Northern cities the colored women merged their identity 
in their Red Cross work with the white women, that is, in some 
Northern cities. In others, and in the South, they formed inde- 
pendent units, auxiliaries to the local branches presided over by 
the women of the other race. These auxiliaries sent hundreds of 
thousands of knitted garments to the front, maintained restaurants, 
did canteen service where they could ; sent men from the local draft 
boards to the camps with comfort kits; in short, did all that could 
be done — all that they were allowed to do. 

But the story of the colored woman and the Red Cross is not 
altogether a pleasant one. Unfortunately, her activities in this 
direction were considerably curtailed in many localities. There 
were whole sections of the countiy in which she was denied the 
privilege of doing canteen service. There were other sections in 
which canteen service was so managed as to be canteen service in 
name only. Local conditions, racial antipathies, ancient prejudices 
militated sadly against her usefulness in this work. To the ever- 
lasting and eternal credit of the colored woman be it said that, in 
spite of what might have been absolute deterrents, she persisted 
in her service and was not downcast in the face of difficulties. 

The best part of the whole situation lies in the fact that in 
the local organizations of the Red Cross the Negro woman was the 
beneficiary. The Home Nursing classes and the classes in Dietetics 
not only served to strengthen the morale of the women engaged 
therein, but raised the tone of every community in which they 
were organized. This was shown during the influenza epidemic 
of 1918, when a panic-stricken nation called upon its volunteer 
nurses of every race and color, and the women of the R^d Cross 
were ready in response and in training. 

Theodore Roosevelt has said, **A11 of us who give service and 
stand ready for sacrifice, are the torch-bearers. We run with the 
torches until we fall, content if we can then pass them to the hands 
of other runners." If that be the case, the gray chapter of the 
colored nurses in overseas service is a golden one. Early in 1918 



378 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

the Government issued a call for nurses. The need was great over- 
seas; it was greater at home. Colored women since the inception 
of the war had felt keenly their exclusion from overseas service. 
The need for them was acute ; their willingness to go was complete ; 
the only thing that was wanted was authoritative sanction. In June, 
1918, it was officially announced that the Secretary of War had 
authorized the calling of colored nurses in the national service. 
It was an act that did more complete justice to our people, in 
enfranchising our women for this noble service than any other of the 
war. All colored nurses who had been registered by the American 
Eed Cross Society were thus given the right to render service to 
their own race in the army. Colored nurses were assigned to the 
base hospitals at Camp Funston, Kansas; Camp Grant, Eockford, 
Illinois; Camp Dodge, Des Moines, Iowa; Camp Taylor, Louisville, 
Kentucky; Camp Sherman, Chillicothe, Ohio, and Camp Dix, 
Wrightstown, New Jersey. At these camps a total of about 38,000 
colored troops were located. 

The Service of Colored Nurses 

Colored people throughout the country felt deep satisfaction 
over this authorization of the enrollment of colored nurses at the 
base hospitals and camps. Hundreds of competent colored nurses 
had registered their names for many months with the Nursing 
Division of the American Eed Cross, in the hope of finally securing 
positions where their skill and experience could be utilized to proper 
advantage. These last were particularly gratified over the happy 
turn of affairs. At the convention of the National Association of 
Colored Graduate Nurses held at St. Louis, Missouri, a formal 
message of appreciation was sent to the War Department, the 
American Eed Cross Society, and other agencies that had been 
instrumental in pushing their claims. 

Mrs. Adah B. Thomas, E. N., president of the National Asso- 
ciation of Graduate Nurses, attached to the staff of the Lincoln 
Hospital and Home in New York City, gave a typical expression 
of the sentiment of the colored nurses and the colored people gen- 
erally with reference to the admission of colored women to this 
branch of service. She was the first to offer herself for overseas 
service. Indianapolis, Indiana, sent a contingent for active service 
at once. Elizabeth Miller of Meharry Medical College, Nashville, 



NEGRO WOMEN IN WAR WORK 379 

Tennessee, answered the Government call and was assigned to duty 
at a nitrate plant in Alabama. 

These were but sporadic instances indicating the instant re- 
sponse to the long-waited call to service. Unfortunately, before 
any considerable change in existing circumstances surrounding this 
branch of service could be made, the Armistice was signed and his- 
tory will never know what the colored woman might have done on 
the battlefields of France as a Red Cross Nurse. Rumor, more or 
less authentic, states that over 300 colored nurses were on the 
battlefields, though their complexion disguised their racial identity. 

Young Women's Christian Association 

Of the remedial agencies at work for the relief of humanity, 
and the shouldering of responsibility for the health, morals, and 
happiness of those also working for the relief of humanity, the 
Young Women's Christian Association in its operation among the 
colored girls, women, and men stands out pre-eminently. The 
reason for this is not hard to seek — the qualities of personality in 
the leader of this work among colored women, Miss Eva D. Bowles. 

At the time the country faced the possibility of war, the 
National Board of the Young Women's Christian Association was 
confronted with the great responsibility of helping to safeguard 
the moral life of women and girls as affected by war conditions. 
Request came from the United States War Department Commis- 
sion on Training Camp Activities and from the Young Men's 
Christian Association, for women workers to undertake work 
among girls in communities adjacent to army and navy training 
camps. Hence the formation of the War Work Council. It 
was organized in June, 1917, with a membership of 100, its func- 
tion to help meet the special needs of girls and young women in 
all countries affected by the war. Allied with this was the Junior 
War Work Council, and the Patriotic League. The extension of 
these activities among colored girls and women was simultaneous, 
and one of the brightest chapters in the story of women in the 
war is the one which records how this work measured up to the 
responsibilities laid upon it. 

The War Work Council of the Young Women's Christian 
Association, recognizing the loyalty and the need of the colored 



380 SCOTT *S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

women and girls of the country, devoted $400,000 of its 1918 budget to 
the work among the colored girls. Y/hen it was organized there was 
one colored National Secretary and sixteen associations or com- 
munities, with nine paid workers. The great demand for a better 
morale among the girls of the country soon raised that number 
to twelve National workers, three field supervisors, and forty-two 
centers, with sixty-three paid workers. 

There were opened up in the various camps fifteen hostess 
houses with complete staffs of colored women. These houses served 
a splendid purpose. A^Hien the War Department planned the great 
training camps it may not have remembered the women of the 
country in the stress of making up the army of men, or it may 
have thought that if it said that there were to be no women in the 
camps, there would be none. But every woman knows that as 
long as there is a path to the camps, that path the women will 
follow; be it on foot, by boat, in cars, trains, trolleys, motor cars, 
or on horseback; and if there be no trail, the women will blaze 
one. They must see if their men are ill, or living, and how they 
are living. If they are ill, they must get to them; if homesick, 
they must cheer them; if they are leaving for overseas, they must 
say good-bye to them. And if there are none of their owti, they 
must be charitable enough to extend their good-will to the lonely 
and heart-hungry of others. 

Hence the birth of the Hostess House idea; a bit of home in 
the camps, a place of rest and refreshment for the women folks 
belonging to the soldiers; a sheltering chaperonage for the too- 
enthusiastic girl; a dainty supplement to the stern face of the 
camp-life of the soldiers; an information bureau for women and 
soldiers alike; a clearing-house for the social activities which 
included the men in camps and their women visitors. 

As the colored troops came into the camps in large numbers, 
there was an urgent appeal to meet the needs of their women. 
The first house to be opened was at Camp Upton, when the ''Buffa- 
loes" (367th) were being made into the crack regiment that it 
afterward became; Mrs. Hannah C. Smith, the pioneer among the 
Hostess House leaders, going there to take charge in the early 
part of November, 1917. Only great enthusiasm and faith in the 
value of the work to be done could have brought about the results 



NEGRO WOMEN IN WAR WORK 381 

which Mrs. Smith achieved at Camp Upton at this time. The 
temporary headquarters for the hostess house were in a bar- 
racks with few conveniences and ahnost no possibilities. Mrs. 
Smith, with her co-worker, Mrs. Norcomb, soon made the place 
as homelike as possible. This was the beginning of the Hostess 
House work for colored women. 

In no very great while Hostess Houses in seven of the large 
camps were in operation and others soon followed. In some camps, 
where there was a definite surety, work was begun in the barracks. 
From many Southern camps came the request for the immediate 
erection of houses on an insufficient plan, but these plans were 
rejected. Finally, in the natural progress that came, the houses 
were erected, and used the same as other Hostess Houses. The 
relationship of the staff to the whole staff of the camp developed 
into an ideal, and all groups working under the general tutelage 
of the Young Women's Christian Association understood each other 
and had a better appreciation of mutual problems by working 
together. 

The Y. W. C. A. and War Industries 

As the war progressed, our colored girls were taken into almost 
every phase of the industrial field. It was then recognized early 
in the work that the success of the movement depended largely 
upon the correct interpretation of the colored girl to her employer 
and her white co-worker, and of a fair, just attitude of the white 
worker toward the colored girl. The war opened up many avenues 
of employment and service to the colored girls that had not hitherto 
been her privilege to accept, principally in the industrial field, and 
with the opening up of these new lines of work, new problems were 
developed; consequently there came a demand for women to go 
into localities where factories were located, to make investigations 
as to working conditions, housing and recreational facilities; to 
create a better understanding between the employer and employee, 
and to assist in the opening up of new opportunities for work. 
As a result of this, an industrial worker was placed at such vital 
points as Detroit, St. Louis, Louisville, East St. Louis, Nitro, West 
Virginia ; Penniman, Virginia, and Philadelphia, with one appointed 
for Baltimore, and an acute situation in Washington carod for. 

Not only was there need for the care and protection of the 
girl in the factory, but equally as much so for those in more social 



382 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

communities. This led to the development of club and recreational 
centers especially in cities near which camps were located. To-day, 
these centers reach from New York to Los Angeles, California, and 
from St. Paul, Minnesota, to San Antonio, Texas. These clubs and 
recreational centers are also an important feature in industrial 
communities. 

Splendid Colored Women Workers 

Not only in groups, but as individuals, the women felt the call 
of this great and important work, and responded from every walk 
of life. There were many offers of volunteer service, and Miss 
Mary Cromwell, of Washington, D. C, was one of those to offer. 
She spent the summer at Camp Dix as a volunteer information 
and emergency hostess, and completed her two months of observa- 
tion and service, feeling that there was an imperative need for the 
workers to be able to differentiate between types of people and 
to deal with each type scientifically as well as sympathetically; to 
know enough about such things as Home Service, "War Risk Insur- 
ance, Protective Agencies, and Allotments, to answer any ques- 
tion that might be asked. 

Miss Cromwell was well fitted both by training and experience 
for her work. As an undergraduate at Ann Arbor, she spent her 
summers in New York doing special investigations for the Charity 
Organization Society. After graduating, she became a teacher in 
the Dunbar High School of Washington, and there she became 
interested in the Washington alleys, and opened a settlement in one 
of the most congested districts. Later, she received her ** master's 
degree'' from the University of Pennsylvania for special research 
work in psychology. 

The arduous task of directing the work of the Industrial Sec- 
tion of the War Work Council was given over to Miss Mary E. 
Jackson, as Special Industrial Worker among Colored Women for 
the War Work Council. She was appointed in December, 1917. 
Prior to that time, Miss Jackson did statistical work in the Labor 
Department of the State of Rhode Island. 

Associated with Miss Bowles in this War Work Council of col- 
ored women as heads of departments in addition to Miss Mary E. 
Jackson, were Miss Crystal Bird, girls' worker; Mrs. Vivian W. 
Stokes, who at one time was associated with the National Urban 



NEGRO WOMEN IN WAR WORK 383 

League and assisted in making a survey of New York City in con- 
nection with the Urban League of New York (Mrs. Stokes' work in 
connection with the Room Registry work has already been men- 
tioned) ; Mrs. Lucy B. Richmond, special worker for town and coun- 
try; Miss Mabel S. Brady, recruiting secretary in the Personnel 
Bureau; Miss Juliette Dericotte, special student worker; Mrs. Cor- 
delia A. Winn, formerly a teacher in the public schools of Columbus, 
Ohio; Mrs. Ethel J. Kindle, special office worker. Miss Josephine 
V. Pinyon was appointed a special war worker in August, 1917. She 
is a graduate of Cornell University, a former teacher, and a student 
,Y. W. C. A. secretary from 1912 to 1916. 

The field workers were Mrs. Adele Ruffin, South Atlantic Field, 
appointed in October, 1917. Mrs. Ruffin was a: teacher for some 
years at Kittrell College, and then secretary of the Y. W. C. A. 
branch at Richmond, Virginia. Miss May Belcher had charge of the 
iSouth Central field and Miss Maria L. Wilder of the Southwestern 
field. Miss Elizabeth Carter was loaned to the Association work 
by the Board of Education of New Bedford, Massachusetts, where 
she is the only colored teacher in the city. She is chairman of the 
Northeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, and former 
president of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs. 
She was placed in charge of the center in Washington, D. C 

Aside from these, there was a small army of club and recreation 
workers. Hostess House workers, industrial workers, and super- 
visors. Throughout the trying ordeal of directing the work of these 
assistants, and meeting the huge problems presented to the council, 
Miss Bowles remained perhaps the most effective and achieving, and 
at the same time, noiseless worker among the colored women in this 
country. 

Women's Division, Council of National Defease 

The Council of National Defense made the best organized at- 
tempt at mobilizing the colored women of all the war organizations. 
In most Northern States it was felt that separate organizations were 
superfluous, yet, on the other hand, in many cases it was agreed that 
the work could be best served by distinct units. There were many 
ramifications to the work of the Council of Defense ; registration of 
wt>men, the weighing and measuring of babies, the establishment of 
milk stations, health and recreations centers, supei-vision of women 



384 SCOTT %S OFB^ICIAL HISTORY 

in industry, correlation with other war organizations. Different 
States excelled in different phases of the work. In the establishment 
of Child Welfare and the conservation of infancy Alabama seems to 
be the banner state, the best work emanating from Tuskegee, where 
the examination of infants was under the care of Mrs. J. W. AVhit- 
aker. At Birmingham, Alabama, Mrs. H. C. Davenport had charge 
of the activities of the Council and was particularly successful in 
the establishment of Community houses at two great industrial 
centers, Acipco and Bessemer. In the first community, where the 
managers of the plant had established a model village with com' 
munity house and all forms of Community life, the entire program 
of the Council of Defense was carried through, conservation of chil- 
dren, attention to health and recreation, with a very strong empha- 
sis on food conservation. In the latter instance, a Community house 
established in the heart of the village of Bessemer concentrated on 
child welfare, food conservation, and war gardens. 
Service in Various States 

Two women in Florida stand out as doing yeoman service 
under the work of the Women's Committee of the Council of De- 
fense. Mrs. Mary McLeod Bethune, who at Daytona, where her 
splendid school is situated, pushed forward the work of the Emer- 
gency Circle, Negro War Relief, and Miss Eartha White, the State 
Chairman of the Colored Woman's Section of the Council of De- 
fense. Under her direction Florida was organized into excellent 
working units, with a particular concentration on a Mutual Protec- 
tion League for Working Girls, who had taken up the unfamiliar 
work of elevator girls, bell girls in hotels, and cliauifeurs. From 
this it was not far to a Union of Girls in Domestic Service, a by- 
product of war conditions that might well be continued in every 
city and hamlet in the country. 

In Colorado, the women formed themselves into a Negro 
Women's Auxiliary W^ar Council, a Negro Women's League for 
Service, and a Red Cross Auxiliary, all apparently working under 
the general management of the Council of Defense. In Georgia, 
the president of the Georgia State Federation of Colored Women's 
Clubs, Mrs. Alice Dugged Carey of Atlanta, reported organizations 
in Tallapoosa County, a community canning center in Bremen, 
Coweta and Cobb counties, with other organizations in every im- 



NEGRO WOMEN IN WAR WORK 385 

portant city. The Illinois women, organized into a Committee on 
Colored Women, worked in cooperation with the Urban League for 
training of Negro Women. 

Delaware did not have a separate organization of the Coun- 
cil of Defense, but the race was represented on the State Com- 
mittee, and through them work was carried on. Mrs. Blanche W. 
Stubbs, president of the City Federation of Christian Workers, rep- 
resented the women, and through her efforts the usual classes in food 
conservation were established at the Thomas Garrett Settlement, 
while a baby-weighing station was established, and a public nurse 
appointed. 

The work in Indiana was carried on by a separate division, 
largely directed by the State President of Colored Women's Clubs, 
Mrs. Gertrude B. Hill. Kentucky, with no special woman's divi- 
sion, specialized on the protection of girls. The best work done in 
Louisiana was in the conservation of children through the weighing 
and measuring of babies, and in the effective registration of the 
women and the conservation of food. 

Maryland did some splendid and effective work under the direc- 
tion of Miss Ida Cummings, the State Chairman of the Colored 
Women's Committee. Practically every phase of the inclusive pro- 
gram mapped out by the Council of Defense was carried through, 
and a public-speaking class at the Bowie Summer School was most 
successful. Mississippi was organized by Miss Sallie Green, of 
Sardis, into eleven sections, corresponding with a similar organiza- 
tion among the white women, with good work done in child conserva- 
tion at Jackson. Mrs. Victoria Clay Haley saw to it that Missouri 
did effective work. Colored women in North Carolina merged their 
war activities into one, and were most successful in training camp 
activities, the War Camp Community Service maintaining an inter- 
esting work at Charlotte. In Portland, Oregon, the Rosebud Study 
Club, as was the case with so many clubs, turned its attention to 
knitting and a practical study of food consei*vation. In Columbia, 
South Carolina, the Phyllis Wheatley Club opened a community 
center to be used as a clearing-house for war activities, welcoming 
all war organizations to work within its walls — Y. W. C. A., Red 
Cross, War Camp Community Service, and Council of Defense. 

In Tennessee, Mrs. Cora Burke, of Knoxville had a successful 



386 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY ■ 

work; registration of nurses was particularly complete. The col- 
ored women of Nashville had a tag day to raise funds for their 
Branch Council of National Defense. Virginia concentrated on 
food conservation and the Children's Year, with most successful 
war gardens. A Colored Woman's Volunteer League was organized 
at Newark, New Jersey, as a branch of the Mayor's committee, of 
the Woman's Committee of the Council of National Defense, Mrs. 
Amorel Cook, president. This league established a canteen and 
specialized on making soldiers feel at home. 
War Problems of Living 

The problems of living, made by the war, which were solved 
sometimes in whole, sometimes in part by the Woman's Committee 
of National Defense, were many and various. For instance there 
was the shifting of the percentage of women in the rural population 
particularly in the South, the same condition wliich was met in the 
North in industrial plants. The employment of women in the cotton 
fields was as great a problem in its way as the mass of girlhood in 
the Northern mills. This employment of the women could not but 
react upon the child, with a consequent lowering of child vitality 
and raising of infant mortality. It was this condition which the 
Council of Defense tried to meet, and to forestall the inevitable 
problems of reconstruction. Hence the establishment of stations 
where babies were weighed, measured, tested, and placed under 
weekly supervision with competent nurses in charge. Perhaps the 
various units did not always accomplish this end, but it was an ideal 
worth striving for. 

"The Lure of the Khaki" 

One of the fundamental problems of the War — ^no new one but 
suddenly aggravated by the abnormal atmosphere and excitement 
accompanying the presence of large numbers of soldiers—was that 
of the relationship of the young girl and the soldier. What has been 
called "the lure of the khaki" is but an expression on the part of the 
girl of her admiration for the spirit of the men who are willing to 
give their lives, if need be, in the defense of their country. How to 
win this feeling into the right channels was one of the problems of 
the women in the war. It was met by two organizations, the Young- 
Women's Christian Association, of which we have spoken, and the 
War Damp Community Service. It was the duty of the latter organi- 



NEGRO WOMEN IN WAR WORK 387 

zation to recreate home ties for enlisted men in cities adjacent to 
training camps. 

It was in providing this home atmosphere that the "War Camp 
Community Service was most successful. Entertainment was devel- 
oped for the colored soldiers ; concessions let for poolrooms, picture 
shows, canteens and cafeterias in connection with the work. But 
where the War Camp Community Sei^ice was most successful was 
in the chaperoned dances, given at the clubrooms. Here *'the lure 
of the khaki" might find conventional self-expression. The largest 
of the Negro Community Service Clubs were in Des Moines, Iowa; 
Battle Creek, Michigan; Louisville, Kentucky; Chillicothe, Ohio; 
Charlotte, North Carolina; Petersburg and Newport News, Virginia; 
Washington, D. C. ; Baltimore, Maryland; Atlanta, Georgia; Mont- 
gomery, Alabama; and Columbia, South Carolina. 

This working together for a common purpose is resulting in 
building up a new community consciousness among our owti people 
and in turning our thoughts to community projects of a penaianent 
nature. Early in the war, work was started at Des Moines, Iowa. 
From that time, with the next two centers at Chattanooga, Tennessee, 
there were established in all sixty-six centers, located in Richmond, 
Newport News, Lynchburg, Norfolk, Petersburg and Peniman, Vir- 
ginia ; Nitro, West Virginia ; Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Williamsport, 
Gennantown, Pennsylvania ; San Antonio, Houston and Fort Worth, 
Texas; St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri; Washington, D. C. ; 
Winston-Salem and Charlotte, North Carolina; YoungstowTi, Day- 
ton, Cincinnati and Colmnbus, Ohio; St. Paul, Minnesota; Orange, 
Jersey City, Burlington and Montclair, New Jersey; Atlanta and 
Augusta, Georgia; Brooklyn and New York City; Charleston and 
Columbia, South Carolina; Detroit, Michigan; Indianapolis, Indiana; 
Little Rock, Arkansas; Louisville, Kentucky; Chicago, Illinois; with 
a special industrial worker at Chester, Pennsylvania, in the person 
of Mrs. Sarah Fernandis, of Baltimore, an experienced social worker. 
The Circle for Negro War Relief 

Time and time again it was borne in upon the inner conscious- 
ness of the women of the race that though the various organizations 
for war relief were doing all that was humanly possible for the sol- 
diers of both races, they were inadequate for all the needs of the 
Negro soldier and his family. There were avenues open for more 



388 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

extensive relief; there were places as yet untouched by any organi- 
zation ; there were programs of direct War Eelief and Constructive 
Relief work which needed to be carried out and some separate or- 
ganization for this work was an imperative necessity. So the Circle 
for Negro War Relief came into existence in November, 1917. The 
leading spirit in this movement was Mrs. Emily Bigelow Hapgood, 
the president, and associated around her were the best minds of the 
country, white and colored. The Circle was incorporated, and dedi- 
cated itself to the purpose of promoting the- welfare of Negro soldiers 
and their dependent families as they might be affected by the emer- 
gencies of war. 

The success of this Circle was immediate and phenomenal. 
Within a few months, sixty ''units" were formed, extending from 
New York to Utah, to the far South, throughout the East, and middle 
West. Each unit dedicated itself in its particular locality to the 
relief of some vital need either in the Community or in some nearby 
camp. For instance Ambulance Unit of N. Y. gave a two-thousand 
dollar ambulance to Camp Upton. Unit No. 29 in St. Helena, South 
Carolina, not only did the usual war knitting and letter writing, but 
during the influenza epidemic formed itself into a health committee 
in cooperation with the Red Cross. 

It would be difficult to give a complete report of the work of all 
the units. It forms a voluminous mass of interesting and illuminat- 
ing statistics. The activities of the Circle ranged from the making 
of comfort kits to the furnishing of chewing gum to the soldiers; 
from the supplying of victrolas and records to the introduction of 
Theodore Roosevelt, Irvin Cobb and Needham Roberts at Carnegie 
Hall; from the giving of Christmas trees in Harlem to Southern 
dinners for the home-sick boys in Augusta, Georgia ; from contribu- 
tions of air-cushions from Altoona, Pennsylvania, to the issuing of 
educational pamphlets on the subject of the Negro soldier. 

The Circle of Negro War Relief and the Crispus Attucks Circle 
organized in Philadelphia in March, 1918, constituted the nearest 
approach to a Red Cross or other organization of this character 
through which the colored people cooperated during the war. The 
Crispus Attucks Circle did for Philadelphia what the Circle of Negro 
War Relief did for New York. Its name fitly commemorated the 
first Negro who gave up his life to help make ''the world safe for 
democracy." The one great project to which it directed all its 



NEGRO WOMEN IN WAR WORK 389 

energies was the attempted establishment in Philadelphia of a base 
hospital for Negro soldiers, in which Negro pliysicians and Negro 
nurses should care for their own. 

It may be objected and is frequently a source of controversy 
that separate hospitals are non-essential. Idle and fallacious reason- 
ing ! They are needed in some places as schools, churches and social 
organizations are needed. A moot question, not to be thrashed out 
here; merely a remark in passing that the Crispus Attuck Circle 
saw a need, a vital need, and aimed to fill it. Certainly if eveiy 
individual in the world saw the vital need in his own particular home 
circle or community and met that need with joyous service, there 
would be no more wars. This is what the women of the race have 
done since April, 1917. 

As the Circle of Negro War Eelief radiated its influence from 
New York City and the Crispus Attucks Circle concentrated its 
efforts in Philadelphia, so all over the United States various inde- 
pendent and private organizations for the relief of the soldier came 
into being. The Soldiers' Comfort Unit of the War Service Center 
opened headquarters on Massachusetts Avenue, Boston. It was one 
of the hundreds of similar organizations made up of women who 
instinctively got together to work for the great cause, and who, with 
a small beginning, found themselves a part of a big v/ork with possi- 
bilities only limited by the ability to meet them. In February, 1918, 
Mrs. H. C. Lewis called together a small group of women who in a 
week's time supplied an urgent need for knitted garments at New- 
port News. From this beginning, made with a dozen women, the 
unit grew into an organization of a hundred and seventy-seven 
women and eventually connected itself with the Circle of Negro War 
Relief. 

In the first days the work was almost exclusively for the com- 
fort of the soldiers, but before many months had passed the scope of 
the organization had widened to a place of entertainment for the 
soldiers, visits to hospitals, visits to the nearby camp — Devens, with 
home-made pies and cakes; liberty sings on Sunday afternoons; 
lectures on social hygiene and special educational lectures ; coopera- 
tion with ''Company L" auxiliar>% and with the Red Cross. 

The officers of the Soldiers' Comfort Unit were: President, 
Miss M. L. Baldwin ; first vice-president, Mrs. C. H. Garland ; second 
vice-president, Mrs. Mary E. Rollins; recording secretary, Mrs. 



390 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Geo. W. Torbey; financial secretary, Mrs. Wm. L. Reed; treasurer, 
Mrs. C. Henry Bobbins; executive secretary, Mrs. U. A. Ridley. 

Executive Committee — Mrs. Lucy Lewis, Chairman; Mrs. Wm. 
J. "Williams, Mrs. Maud Cuney Hare, Mrs. Wm. Cromwell, Mrs. 
Geo. B. Lewis, Mrs. Amos Mason, Mrs. Alice Casneau, Mrs. Jas 
Hinton, Mrs. Agnes Adams. Chairman Red Cross, Mrs. A. M. 
Gilbert; Chairman House Conmaittee, Mrs. Geo. Drummond; Chair- 
man Hospitality Committee, Mrs. Nellie Brown Mitchell. 

After a year of work the Soldiers* Comfort Unit found itself 
facing a still larger field, the returning soldiers coming from scenes 
of horror and devastation with problems and needs. Like all of the 
war organizations of the women of the race, they found their work 
had only just begnin. 

Woman's Auxiliary of the 15th Regiment 

In the early days of the old Fifteenth New York Regiment, when 
colored men were volunteering as members of the military organi- 
zation which was to become the first New York State Guard com- 
posed of colored men, it occurred to a thoughtful woman of the race, 
a New Yorker by birth, that earnest colored women banded together 
could be a potent factor in the life of the regiment. 

The idea was carried out, and the Woman's Auxiliary, Fifteenth 
Regiment, was organized May 2, 1917, with one hundred members. 
It received its credentials from Colonel William Hayward, May 9. 
The first definite work undertaken was the investigation of the cases 
of men whose dependents claimed exemption for them. This was an 
important factor in the perfect recruiting of the regiment and won 
commendation from the commanding officer and his official staff. 

It is the exclusive privilege of the colored people to adopt the 
slogan, *'No Color Line." It would seem a strange commentary on 
the magnanimity of the American people to note that those who 
are the first to adopt the policy of no discrimination are the ones 
against whom that discrimination is most often practiced. We have 
noted how in every instance where organizations of colored women 
have been formed for War Relief there is a definite policy of ''No 
Color Line." Now and then the fact was proclaimed publicly in 
sign or in motto, as in Boston and by the Josephine Gray Colored 



NEGRO WOMEN IN WAR WORK 391 

Lady Knitters of Detroit, Michigan, who ''knitted for all American 
soldiers regardless of race, color, or nationality." 

Colored Women in the Loan Drives 

But not only in the definite work of relief, in knitting, sewing, 
care of dependents of soldiers or in the more spectacular forms of 
war work were the women engaged. The raising of the sinews of 
War was a problem which the United States faced. Every man, 
woman, and child in the country needed to be taxed to the utmost. 
How to make the giving a pleasing privilege rather than a doleful 
duty devolved upon the women of the country. Five Liberty Loan 
drives, six Red Cross drives, the constant Thrift Stamp Drive, and 
a tremendous United War Camp Drive, wherein uncountable billions 
were spoken of airily, staggered the average mind both in prospect 
and retrospect. But Americans learned to think in big figures. 
Every one got the habit of saving ; and the purse-strings of America 
were permanently opened for the relief of the needs of the nation 
and to aid needy peoples overseas. 

This reaction on the national conscience is of inestimable value. 
Charity will never again be the perfunctory thing that it was before 
the ^ireat War. Penury in giving will be frowned down upon as 
immoral. And this quickening of the national conscience, this loos- 
ening of the national purse, is due in no small measure to the fervor 
and zeal with which the women of the nation threw themselves into 
the campaigns for filling the war coffers. 

As was to be expected, the colored women were foremost in all 
the financial campaigns. The National Association of Colored 
Women organized at the very beginning of the war to cooperate in 
every way with the Woman 's Council of Defense. Mrs. Philip North 
Moore, President of the National Council of Women, says, *'No 
women worked harder than the women of the National Association 
of Colored Women.'* 

Mrs. Mary B. Talbert, President of the National Association 
of Colored Women, which has a membership of a hundred thousand, 
is authority for the statement that in the Third Liberty Loan the 
colored women of the United States raised about five million dollars. 
Savannah, Georgia, alone raised a quarter of a million dollars. Poor 
colored women in a tobacco factory of Norfolk, Virginia, subscribed 



392 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

ninety-one thousand dollars. Macon, Georgia, subscribed about 
twenty thousand. 

The National War Savings Committee appointed colored women 
to conduct campaigns for the War Savings Committee. One of the 
most notable of these appointments by the Secretaiy of the Treasury 
was that of Mrs. Laura Brown, of Pittsburgh. She maintained an 
office from which whirlwind campaigns emanated, and set a standard 
of efficiency of organization not easily equaled. 

War Work Among Negro Children 

One of the most effective ways of reaching the people of any 
community is through the children. Hence the work of the colored 
teachers in reaching the race through the children under their care, 
has been in the highest degTee effectual. Throughout the South, in 
the middle Atlantic states in which there is a separate school system, 
in the Middle West, and in the Southwest; in public schools, in 
endowed institutions, in colleges — in short wherever colored teachers 
are employed to teach colored children, there was a constant and 
beneficial influence being exerted in the entire race through its chil- 
dren. This influence made for loyalty, patriotism unquestioning and 
devoted; and particularly did this influence raise the quota of the 
race's contribution to the National war chest. Colored schools 
taught by colored teachers sent in every com^munity a pro rata to 
the Thrift Stamp, Red Cross, United War Campaign, and Liberty 
Loans in considerable excess of the natural percentage. It would 
have been easy to have failed just here with the children; it was 
difficult in many communities to overcome the natural obstacles. But 
they were overcome. The amounts raised in all National drives 
through the colored women teachers working with their children, are 
a monumental credit to the women of the race. 

The Negro Exodus of 1917-18 

Such a move as this was more important than appears on the 
face of the bald statement of the fact. In the Northern cities directly 
affected by the exodus of Southern Negroes in 1917 and 1918, a by- 
product of the war, there was suffering, intense and "^^^despread, 
among the Negroes suddenly thrust into a climate and conditions 
for which their life in the South had given them no preparation. 
Some cities, notably Detroit, met the situation with a whole-hearted 



NEGRO WOMEN IN WAR WORK 393 

desire on the part of the civic authorities to cope with the condition 
correctly and humanely. Other cities lamented the influx into their 
borders, and let the new population shift for itself as best it could, 
resulting in a pitiful increase of the death rate in pneumonia. The 
unprecedentedly hard winter of 1917-1918 was trying even to those 
inured to the rigors of a Northern winter. Some cities drove out 
the invaders, or made conditions so uncomfortable that they drifted 
aw^ay, or suffered in silence. In other cases, notably Chester, Penn- 
sylvania, the colored women of the city took the matter in their own 
hands, and saved as best they could the pitiful strugglers in their 
search for homes and work. 

The tide of migration swept northward, and broke in a huge 
wave, beginning at Chester, Pennsylvania, in the East, St. Louis and 
East St. Louis in the Middle West, and Los Angeles in the West, the 
crest of the wave breaking in Philadelphia, Detroit and Chicago. It 
was a situation which the war had inevitably brought about — the 
increase in munition plants and shipyards, with their need for more 
help, and consequent high w^ages ; it was helped by nature — the boll- 
weevil devastating the little which the Southern laborers owned in 
cotton-field and home; it was fostered by the growing unrest and 
bitterness due to lack of economic and educational opportunities and 
to injustice dealt at home. \^Tien the true history of the great 
Negro Exodus of 1917-1918 shall be written, it will prove as fasci- 
nating and as peculiar in its psychological ramifications as the story 
of the Exodus from Egypt. 

Not the least interesting and splendid is the part played by the 
colored women in those cities where the crest of the wave broke. 
Hunger and privation, even in the face of the big wages paid by the 
huge war plants, stared the newcomers in the face, for there was not 
always work enough, and illness laid off many of those who had 
made places for themselves in the industrial elysium. The housing 
conditions, or rather the lack of them, constitute one of the blackest 
chapters in the history of the movement. Here is where the Chris- 
tian fortitude and love of the colored women who lived in those cities 
shine forth resplendently. They gave up their own homes to the 
newcomers; they endured discomforts and inconveniences to helj) 
the women thus pitifully thrust into these adverse conditions ; thoy 
taught the women from the South the art of coping with the northern 



394 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

climate;^ they nursed them when the inevitable sickness broke out; 
they gave them warm clothing and taught them how to spend money 
to the best advantage in purchasing suitable clothes and proper 
food; they took women and children into their homes, and helped 
them in ways that only women understand how to help each other. 
Maintaining the Negro Morale 

Rumors, many and various, of the disaffection of the Negro, of 
his lack of patriotism, of the influence upon him of so-called German 
propaganda, of the need of stimulating his patriotic fervor, swept 
through the country in the spring and summer of 1918. Just how 
much of this so-called propaganda was German, and how much 
American, and how much of it rumors which had their rise in hys- 
terical fear, it is not given us to know. Why there was a loss of 
patriotic interest in certain localities was not hard to discover. 
Here and there studied indifference on the part of certain organiza- 
tions toward the well-meant efforts of the colored women in attempt- 
ing to help in war relief; labor conditions; the old, old stories of 
prejudice and growing bitterness in the labor situation; rumors of 
increased lynching activities — from all these a lukewarmness towards 
the conduct of the war had grown up in various cities. And it was 
here again that the women met a difficult problem and helped to 
solve it. 

Again we look to the army of women teachers, and their 
subtle and pervasive influence over the youth of the race, and 
through children over their parents. It would be difficult to measure 
the service of these women in this particular direction. 

Here and there, however, there was a more spectacular ap- 
peal made to the patriotic emotions of the race through pageants, 
demonstrations, or mass meetings. In some cases, the schools 
through school pageants and plays appealed directly to the patriotic 
emotions; plays written by Negro authors were staged, commence- 
ment exercises became rallying grounds of calls to the warmth 
of the race in its love for the nation. 

Colored Women in War Industries 

War has a way of forcing expedients. From 1914 until No- 
vember, 1918, the economic balance of the nation was sadly upset, 
first by the stopping of the tide of inmiigration from Europe, 
secord by the exodus of the Negro to the North, third by the 



NEGRO WOMEN IN WAR WORK 395 

drastic sweep of the draft law. The first opened the door of 
opportunity to the Negro laborer, the second depleted the fields 
of the South, the third plunged the colored woman pell-mell into 
the industrial world — an entirely new place for her. 

''For generations colored women have been working in the 
fields of the South. They have been the domestic servants of 
both the South and the North, accepting the positions of personal 
service open to them. Hard work and unpleasant work has been 
their lot, but they have been almost entirely excluded from our 
shops and factories. Tradition and race prejudice have played 
the largest part in their exclusion. The tardy development of the 
South and the failure of the colored woman to demand industrial 
opportunities have added further values. Clearly, also, two hun- 
dred years of slavery and fifty years of industrial boycott in both 
the North and the South, following the Civil War, have done little 
to encourage or to develop industrial aptitudes. For these reasons, 
the colored women have not entered the ranks of the industrial 
army in the past.'* 

But war expediency, for a time at least, partially opened the 
door of industry to them. It was an. experiment and like all ex- 
periments, it fell against problems, and those problems were met 
by the earnest consideration of several agencies. We have already 
spoken of the splendid work of this department of the Young 
Women's Christian Association, under the direction of Miss Mary 
E. Jackson of Providence, Rhode Island. In June, 1918, a joint 
committee was formed in New York to study the employment of 
colored women in that city and its environs. Serving on that 
committee were representatives from practically all the philan- 
thropic organizations in the city, and the result of its labors through 
two investigators, Mrs. Gertrude McDougald (colored) and Miss 
Jesse Clarke (white), were given publicity in an interesting pam- 
phlet, from which the above paragraph was quoted. It is a 
significant fact that the colored woman in industry in a short 
time had reached the point where she merited trained investiga- 
tion. 

''Come out of the kitchen, Mary," was the slogan of the 
colored woman in war time. She doffed her cap and apron and 
donned her overalls. Some States, such as Maryland and Florida, 
specialized in courses in motor mechanics and automobile driving. 



396 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

The munition factories took the girls in gladly. Grim statistics 
prove that their scale of wages was definitely lower than a man's 
doing the same work, and sad to say a considerable fraction below 
that of white girls in the same service, although Delaware reports 
some very high-priced, skilled ammunition testers, averaging seven 
to twelve dollars a day. The colored girls blossomed out as switch- 
board operators, stock takers, wrappers, • elevator operators, sub- 
way porters, ticket choppers, track-walkers, trained signallers, 
yard-walkers. They went into every possible kind of factory de- 
voted to the production of war materials, from the most dangerous 
posts in munition plants to the delicate serving in aeroplane fac- 
tories. Colored girls and colored women drove motor trucks, un- 
loaded freight cars, dug ditches, handled hardware around ship- 
ways and hardware houses, packed boxes. They struggled with 
the discomforts of ice and fertilizing plants. They learned the 
delicate intricacies of all kinds of machines, and the colored 
woman running the elevator or speeding a railroad on its way by 
signals was a common sight. 

Just what the effect of this marvelous influx of colored women 
into the industrial world would have upon the race was a problem 
viewed with considerable interest. Pessimists predicted a socio- 
logical and psychological upheaval in the ranks of the women 
of the race. A strange thing about it was that there was no 
perceptible racial disintegTation and the colored women bore 
their changed status and higher economic independence mth much 
more equanimity than white women on a corresponding scale of 
living. The reason for this may perhaps be found in the fact 
that the colored woman had a heritage of 300 years of work back 
of her. Her children were used to being left to shift for them- 
selves ; her home was used to being cared for after sundown. The 
careful supervision of the War Work Council and the Council of 
Defense over the health and hours of the woman in industry 
averted the cataclysm of lowered vitality and eventual unfitness for 
maternity. 

The possible economic effect of this entrance into the unknown 
fields of industry on the part of the colored woman will be that 
when pre-war conditions return and she is displaced by men and 
is forced to make her way back into domestic service, the latter 
will be placed on a strictly business basis and the vocation of 



NEGRO WOMEN IN WAR WORK 397 

is forced to make her way back into domestic service, the latter 
will be placed on a strictly business basis and the vocation of 
housekeeping and home-making will be raised to the dignity of a 
profession. 

We have touched lightly the Negro woman in the world war. 
Lightly perforce, because of her innate modesty and reticent care- 
lessness in proclaiming her own good deeds. She emerges from 
the war more serious-minded, more responsible, with a higher 
opinion of her own economic importance; with a distinct and 
definite aim and ambition to devote her life to the furthering of 
the cause for which her men died on Flanders fields. She has 
sei-ved the Red Cross at home and begged to serve it abroad; she 
has probed to the depths the real meaning of the word Christianity ; 
she has formed a second line of defense at home; she has learned 
the real value of community service, and what it means to give of 
her tune, means, and smiles to the weary soldiers passing through 
her town; she has organized special circles of war relief on her 
own initiative, and given all that she could afford, from the homely 
apple and sandwich and cigarette to an ambulance for service 
overseas. 

She has given regally, munificently of her little to help fill 
the national war chest, and when there w^as no more in her slender 
purse she has given her time and persuasiveness to induce others 
to follow her example. She has endowed and maintained Hostess 
Houses and helped support the wives and children of the men in 
service. When disaffection threatened, she fostered patriotism 
and overcame propaganda with simple splendid loyalty. She gave 
up ease and clear skies for the dangers and hardships of death- 
dealing labor. She shut her eyes to past wrongs and present 
discomforts and future uncertainties. She stood large-hearted, 
strong-handed, clear-minded, splendidly capable, and did, not her 
bit, but her best, and the world is better for her work and her 
worth. 





CHAPTER XXVIII 

SOCIAL WELFARE AGENCIES 

Important Welfare Work of the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion and Other Organized Bodies — Negro Secretaries of the 
Y. M. C. A. — The Problem of Illiteracy i/n the Camps — The 
Social Secretaries — Results of Education — The Y. W. C. A. 
Hostess Houses — The Knights of Columbus — Caring for Re- 
turned Soldiers. 

Prior to the outbreak of the war it was a well-established fact 
that the Young Men's Christian Association, the Young Women's 
Christian Association, the Eed Cross, and other organized bodies 
primarily concerned with the welfare of people in general, had 
figured so largely in the life of the young men prior to their call 
to arms that something should be done to enable these agencies to 
throw around them the same influences under which they came 
when at home. One of the first efforts, therefore, to provide for 
the social betterment of the men under arms was to connect these 
movements officially with the Government, that they might func- 
tion efficiently in caring for the soldiers at the front. It was 
observed that the social welfare organizations could adapt them- 
selves as successfully to the needs of men in times of war as in 
times of peace. At the beginning of the war the War Work Coun- 
cil declared that the same thing done for white men would be done 
for colored men when in the various cantonments, and while it 
has been difficult to cany out this letter of the law, for many 
reasons too tedious to be mentioned. Dr. J. E. Moorland, the 
Senior Secretary of the Young Men's Christian Association in 
charge of colored men's work, believes that the Negro has come 
more nearly to receiving a square deal in this instance than in 
anything else in the history of the country. 

When the unusual appeal was made to the American people, 
adequate funds were raised to finance the work of the welfare 
organizations. Nearer to the end of hostilities, however, when a 

398 



SOCIAL WELFARE AGENCIES 399 

more systematic effort for financing all of these social organizations 
had to be made, the Government provided that all such agencies 
should be absorbed by the seven recognized groups, and a national 
drive for $170,000,000 was made by these organizations, resulting 
in raising the desired amount. They were therefore at an early 
period in a position to construct successful machinery for the 
training of social workers to supply these needs throughout the 
camps in this country and among the soldiers overseas. While it 
must be admitted that it was impossible to choose upon such short 
notice persons who met in every way the requirements for this 
unusual task, the personnel of the Young Men's Christian Associa- 
tion staff so far as the colored workers were concerned were of a 
high class. 

At the head of this staff, to select and equip for this unusual 
service the numerous secretaries needed in the camps and canton- 
ments, was Dr. J. E. Moorland, Senior Secretary of the Young 
Men's Christian Association. Associated with him was Mr. Robert 
B. DeFrantz, visiting secretary of the Des Moines camp, and 
formerly engaged in the work at Kansas City, Missouri. There 
were also the placement secretaries, Mr. William J. Faulkner 
and Mr. Max Yergan, who after his return from Africa, assisted 
in recruiting men; Professor Charles H. Wesley of Howard Uni- 
versity doing similar work. J. Francis Gregory and George L. 
Johnson, two specialists in religious work, were later added. 
The former directed his efforts toward the religious life of the 
men in the camps, while the latter, a noted tenor, rendered valuable 
service with his singing. 

Negro Secretaries of the Y. M. 0. A, 

At the beginning of the War Work Council it was decided to 
send Negro secretaries to care for troops of their own race. There 
were fifty-five centers or groups in Army camps with Association 
privileges, served by two hundred and sixty-eight secretaries in 
the home camps and forty-nine secretaries ser\'ing overseas. The 
grand total of all colored secretaries was three hundred and thirty- 
one. The buildings in which these secretaries worked were twenty- 
five '*E" type and National Guard buildings. The other centers 
were housed in barracks, mess halls, and tents. 



400 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

^'Tliis work, too," according to Dr. J. E. Moorland, its moving 
spirit, ''was not a haphazard one. It had a definite purpose, 
promoted by carefully selected specialists. To be more explicit, 
it is well to describe a staff organization which is responsible for 
the work in a building. It is composed of a building secretary, 
who is the executive ; a religious work secretary, who has charge of 
the religious activities, including personal work among the soldiers, 
Bible class and religious meetings; an educational secretary, 
who promotes lectures and educational classes, and uses whatever 
means he may have at hand to encourage intellectual develop- 
ment ; a physical secretary, who has charge of athletics and various 
activities for the physical welfare of the soldiers, works in the 
closest relationship with the military officers and is often made 
responsible for all of the physical activities in the camp; a social 
secretary, who promotes the social activities, including entertain- 
ments, ''stunts" and moving pictures; a business secretary, who 
keeps close tab on the sale of stamps, postcards, and such supplies 
as may be handled by the Association, and is held responsible for 
the proper accounting of finances. In every case these secretaries 
were thoroughly investigated before being appointed and were 
required to be members of evangelical churches in good standing, 
and men capable of commanding the respect of the soldiers with 
whom they work. 

The Problem of Illiteracy 

' The large number of illiterates who were brought into the 
various camps of the country brought with them a tremendous 
problem. Many of them could not sign the payroll. Some of 
them did not know the right from the left hand, and not a few 
were not sure about their names. The Association was able to 
solve this problem by teaching thousands of men to read and write 
their names. Some men after having learned to write their 
names," says Dr. Moorland, "have actually shouted for joy over 
the new-found power which at last had released them from the 
shackles of an oppressive ignorance. Speakers of both races 
have inspired the men and enlarged their vision. Many men with 
a better educational equipment have increased their talent* by 
sober thinking along with purposeful programs of reading. 




Above — Colored Woinen War Workers of the Youns Women's Christian Association at 
Hostess House, Camp Upton, Lons' Island. ^ ,, r^ y^,.^A 

Belotv— Colored American Red Cross Canteen War Workers who canteened all Coloied 
soldier troop trains passing- through Chicago to and from the front „, „. „ ,-.„ 

First Row Left to Right— Mrs. Eva Jenifer, Captain Dr. Mary Fitzbutlor Waring. Mrs. 

Second Roiv Left to Right— Ueut. Hattie Oldham, Mrs. Sadie Anderson, Mrs Helen Thorne. 

Mrs. Juanita Hawkins, Mrs. Mary WlcklifCe, Mrs. Lillian Gully, Lieut. Mayme Haddox 
Dr. Mary Fitzbutler Waring is also Chairman of the Col. Denison Red Cross Auxiliary, and 

Chairman of Red Cross Work of the Colored Women's Clubs of the L. b. 




Above — Negro American Red Cross Workers of the Byhalia ('oluixd Auxiliary u( nortlu-ni 

Mississippi where negroes outnumber the whites five to one. 
Beloiv — Colored boys on troop train passing- throush Now Orleans to training- camps 

being' served with cholocates and cigarettes by Colored Auxiliary of American Red 

Ci'oss. 




1 ^ J- 





Top. Left to RiKht-lst I.t. Kucll W. .Mark.., ^-i-t Iv.snnnH ^'V'n 'hu , " '^ot if l' ''■ 

Div 1st lA Almando HencU-r.son, 367lh Inl. l.-^l l.t. !• . i^. Ip.-lnii. ... i t i i 
Center Left to RiVht-2nd Lt. U. 1 >. Hardeway, 3B7th Inl Tapl. Aaron l>a>. J... 
Am Tr ''nd Lt A M. Watson, 350tli Mchn. Ciun l.at. , , ^ ,„ ^ r'.„^,. 

in an attack on IMnarville. 



!IL'lld 

aiTth 



368th 
Forest 




the bi 



■>nd Headquarters, who kept com- 
j- drive in Champagne, Argonne and 



Above — Colored messengers of Motoroyc 

munication lines alive at all hours during 
Be?oS;-Amerfcan White and Negro soldiers being served to chocolate and sandwich ro.^^^ 

in canteen established in basement of American Red Cio^s Buieau ot Ketu^ees at 

Toulouse. 




r ) 






nm' 



H^" 



*^'i.' 



r 



1A.W-.C~.: 




«* , 



>.. -"zifUtin-^ «■?->-';,- v'iT.jtf'iw^ ^ ^a. .. '•/"J^'"- 





"""trTMiV.'''' ^'^'■'' '"" ^^^ ,32nd Pivi.sion near a roadside leading- out of I'..nt-a-Mousson 

, lho^e^\^ho"d!I^ oTsi'crno^^ dTr^ni' t^lt^p'^-io^^" '" ^'"^ "^^^''^'^"'^ ^^^'^^^ ^^^^ -'^ 

N^m^okfi'ei^s. '"""■'''' "''"'' ^^"^ '''""' '^"^""^ '" '"^ ^'-^"'"'^ ■•^^'^^'^•- "'^oupiod by American 




OVERSEAS SECRETARIES OF THE YOUNG MEN'S r HIM ST [AX ASSOC [ATTON. 
Left Top — E. L. Snyder. Left Center — J. A. Croon. Below — Moses A. Davis. 
Center Top — Group of "Y" Secretaries ready to sail for France. 
Beloiv — B. P. Seldon behind the lines in France just emergini^- from the trip through the 

trenches. 
Right, at top — Thos. M. Clayton. Right Centei-— Gary Ward Moore. Beloiv — G. W. Jackson.- 
All the above overseas Y. M. C. A. Secretaries are well known to the American Negro 

Soldiers who served overseas. 




\hnvP •IM- Nims" of the 3i(l r.attalinn. :i(iHlh Infantiy. who r..uiui gr,-al aim.s.ni.tU in 
'^,Z,'^u,^\^y^^r'^^\0^^^unnue.iionaMo courage at many timers serve., to cheer 



Be/ol^Gn^S"of 'l^i^ro ^ldiors"byhi'^- the lines bein^ instructed in approved methods 
of using gas masks before yoing forward to the trenches. 



SOCIAL WELFARE AGENCIES • 401 

"The religion of the soldiers was not neglected. Hundreds 
of Bible classes were conducted and religious meetings with pur- 
pose were largely attended. The best of both races have been able 
to give encouragement and helpful messages to the men, many of 
whom have had their faith strengthened; many others for the 
first time in their lives accepted the Christian faith. The effort 
was to give a religious program adapted to the lives of the men 
and enable them to go overseas and come back fit to look mother, 
wife, sister, and sweetheart in the face and not be ashamed. 

**The emphasis, however, was placed upon life, and speakers 
were requested to avoid emphasizing death. Although the training 
in the army camps is physical development to a very marked de- 
gree, it was soon learned that there must be a recreational side. 
The physical director had to meet this need to prevent men from 
becoming sullen and morose. Baseball teams, football teams, box- 
ing and all sorts of recreational games were staged. These proved 
to be as essential in the matter of self-defense as lectures and 
private talks on health and the protection of the body against 
the ravages of every form of vice." 

Work of the Social Secretaiies 

The social secretaries rendered no less a service than the 
other workers. In providing programs for the entertainment 
of the men, in presenting interesting moving pictures, in utilizing 
the talent of various communities near the camps for the needs 
of the men in camps, they accomplished a task which in the past 
had seemed impossible. The social secretary, moreover, enabled 
these men to entertain themselves. The Selective Draft brought 
together men of all grades, from the most illiterate to the highly 
trained university graduate, messing together side by side daily. 
Men who had lived in the atmosphere of vice and those who had 
been trained in the best Christian homes were th^o^^^l together in 
a common cause, wearing the same imiform, obeying the same 
orders. In this great mass the social secretary discovered remark- 
able talent, which was able to provide entertainment for the 
soldiers in the camps and at certain times for the people outside 
the camps. 



402 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

According to Dr. Moorland, the letters of appreciation re- 
ceived from many of the soldiers for the service rendered by these 
faithful secretaries sound like a new edition of the Acts of the 
Apostles. ^'Not only in France are our men serving. We also 
have secretaries in East Africa, working with natives and Bri ish 
troops, and their story is that of pioneers laying foundations as 
Christian statesmen for the building of future manhood in that 
great continent; for they are serving men representing tribes from 
all parts of the continent of Africa, and these men are learning 
what unselfish service means as well as, in many cases, learning to 
read and write in the little evening schools provided for them." 

There were thirty-nine official directors, giving their entire 
attention to directing recreational activities and thirty secretaries 
who served as song leaders. There were six or more secretaries, 
physical and social directors, however, to do recreational work and 
direct singing. It has been estimated that two million men attended 
these various centers for Negro soldiers every month; that there 
were two hundred lectures with an attendance of eighty a month; 
ten thousand Scriptures circulated every month; nine thousand 
personal interviews; seven thousand Christian decisions; eleven 
thousand war roll singers; one hundred and twenty-five thousand 
taking part in physical activities; five hundred motion picture 
exhibitions with an attendance of three hundred thousand ; 1,250,000 
letters written, and $110,000 worth of money orders sold. 

Important Results of Education 

Out of such unusual efforts to educate, in fact to remake, the 
enlisted man, came important results. The Negro soldier was 
brought, so to speak, from a sequestered vale into the broad light 
of modern times, where various agencies which have constituted a 
leverage in the elevation of men gave him during these few^ months 
more opportunity for mental improvement than he had experienced 
during the other part of his life. Thousands of men were not only 
taught to read and write, but also formed the habit of reading good 
books, which in a short time showed results in the appreciation of 
higher ideals and in giving them a more intelligent attitude 
toward life. These agencies, too, operating among the whites 
and the blacks equally deficient in education during their early 



SOCIAL WELFARE AGENCIES 403 

careers, tended to promote better relationship between the races 
and as a result to produce a higher class of men. 

The record of these secretaries was highly commendable. First 
among those to attain recognition was Dr. Geo. W. Cabaniss, of 
Washington, D. C, known for a long time as the dean of the 
colored secretaries, a man who had much to do with making pos- 
sible the camp for the training of the colored officers at Fort 
Des Moines; and who after the camp had been provided went into 
the service with them to serve these young men as a Y. M. C. A. 
secretary. Returning home after they were commissioned. Dr. 
Cabaniss abandoned his lucrative practice in the city of Washing- 
ton and went to Camp Meade to serve as a secretary at one of the 
Y. M. C. A. huts. Being a Christian gentleman, Dr. Cabaniss 
was especially anxious to look after the morals of the young men, 
and in the end he was glad to report that the habits in general of 
the men who came under his supervision were of a very high 
order, and that they exhibited evidences of being men who would 
make good at the front. Among those who won distinction in 
reaching men may also be mentioned Matthew W. Bullock, William 
Stevenson, and J. C. Wright. 

Distinguished Service of Supervisors 

Some mention should be made also of those men of color who 
although Y. M. C. A. workers went to France for supervision, to 
render a larger service than that of the average social w^orker. 
Among them were Mr. Max Yergan, President John Hope of 
Morehouse College, and Dr. H. H. Proctor of the First Congrega- 
tional Church, Atlanta, Georgia. Mr. Max Yergan had already 
rendered distinguished service as an earnest worker among the 
British troops of color in Africa. His work in France, like that 
of President Hope, was largely that of a field secretary to consider 
cases of friction, discipline, and general difficulty and to administer 
affairs which could not be attended to by the staff on this side of 
the Atlantic. It was only late in the war that Dr. Proctor answered 
the call to engage in this same work. These gentlemen, in mani- 
festing a spirit of sacrifice and interest in the welfare of the 
men at the front, not only exhibited examples worthy of emulation, 
but rendered the race and the country a distinguished sendee. 



404 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

The Y. W. 0. A. Hostess Houses 

The work had not gone forward very far when the peculiar 
need for a plan by which the wives and daughters of the enlisted 
men might visit them at camp necessitated the bringing in of 
women as Y. W. C. A. workers. It was accordingly provided that 
each of these camps, wherever practicable, should have hostess 
houses, to be placed in charge of a woman of honor. The hostess 
house was a means of communication between the enlisted men 
and their relatives. Here the sweetheart came to say goodbye to 
her loved one, the wife to see her husband for the last time, and 
the mother to bid her son farewell. The Y. W. C. A. maintained a 
colored hostess house in every camp where there were colored 
soldiers, the plan being the same as that for the white soldiers. 
The official report states that these houses "are not only hospi- 
tality centers, but also demonstrations to visitors of the best ways 
of entertaining and of serving food. Many men and women are 
here first brought in contact with high yet simple standards of 
social intercourse. Each house is a training center for new colored 
social workers." 

The heads of these houses are among the best known women of 
the race, many of whom have been doing social work of a high 
type among their people for years. The need for such women, of 
course, was experienced abroad, but there was much objection to 
the sending of women of color to the front, just as there had been 
in the case of barring them from the Red Cross units. In the 
course of time, however, this prejudice was overcome and it was 
possible to send a number of women of color to serve in the 
hostess houses in France. The first of these to sail was Mrs. 
Helen Noble Curtis of New York, the widow of the late James L. 
Curtis, Minister Resident of the United States to Liberia. For a 
number of years she had been a member of the committee of 
management of the colored women's branch of the Y. W. C. A. 
As she had been in France and had learned to speak the language 
thoroughly, she was much desired for this work. 

The appointment of Mrs. Curtis proved to be such a success 
that another colored secretary was sent over in the following 
month. This was Mrs. Addie W. Hunton of Brooklyn, New York, 
widow of the late William A. Hunton, the first International 



SOCIAL WELFARE AGENCIES 405 

Secretary of the Y. M. C. A. for colored men in America. She is 
an educated woman of excellent standing and had for a number 
of years been a moving spirit in Y. W. C. A. work. She had also 
traveled in Europe, studied at the University of Strasburg, and 
formed certain connections which enabled her to render the race 
invaluable service abroad. Mrs. Hunton was soon followed by 
Miss KathrjTi M. Johnson, and later by twelve or more women of 
the same high character. 

Tributes to Y. M. C. A. Workers 

"The colored Y. M. C. A. workers here in France," said Ralph 
W. Tyler, * ' working under handicaps, and limited, as to numbers, in 
proportion to the number of white Y. M. C. A. workers, and consider- 
ing the proportionate number of colored soldiers in France, have been 
paid a high tribute by Colonel (now General) W. F. Creary. Writing 
to Wm. Stevenson, colored Y. M. C. A. secretary of Hut No. 2, 
General Creary said: 

'' 'I have seen the workings of your huts along the line, from the front 
line trenches to the base ports, and have been a personal recipient of the 
comforts afforded by them on many occasions. 

" ' I have always been impressed by the zeal with which the secretaries, 
and others, have prosecuted their work, with untiring energy, and with their 
valor and bravery, for the work at the front cannot be done except by real 
red-blooded men. 

" 'I have been particularly interested in the activities of your huts, 
devoted exclusively to the interests of colored soldiers since my assumption of 
the command of this camp, and I congratulate you on the progress you have 
made, and are making now. 

" 'Besides the splendid athletic, social, and canteen service offered by 
yourself and your assistants, I have been much impressed by your activities 
in the educational departments, and have been much pleased to see many of 
OUR Colored soldiers, who have had but few advantages of early education, 
availing themselves of the advantages offered by you for the acquirement of 
knowledge of the elementary branches of education. 

" 'Your thrift department is the means of many of OUR men saving 
their money and purchasing money orders to send back home, thereby placing 
their money where it should be. ' 

*'In Mr. Stevenson's hut, Mrs. James L. Curtis looks after 
the canteen, and most laudably aids in the work of comforting the 



406 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

thousands of colored boys who are contributing their might in 
the interest of world democracy. Mr. Stevenson, to whom General 
Creary wrote this commendatory letter, is a Cincinnati, Ohio, boy, 
and he fairly bubbles in his enthusiasm in his work for colored 
soldiers. 

"While visiting this particular point, I came in contact with the 
work of colored Y. M. C. A. people, who are seconding and cooperating 
with the work of the Army in a most effective way. Here I met Mrs. 
James L. Curtis, widow of our late Minister to Liberia, who is idol- 
ized by the men in the camp in which is located the particular 
Y. M. C. A. hut in which she labors. I also came in contact with and 
investigated the splendid work of Miss Kathryn Johnson, of 
Chicago, and Mrs. A. W. Hunton, the other two colored women 
Y. M. C. A. workers over here, and, unfortunately, the only three 
(with Mrs. Curtis) colored women assigned over here for war work 
by the Y. M. C. A. The effect of the work these three splendid 
colored women have done, and will continue to do, will be in evidence 
long after this war has been fought to a glorious peace. Here I 
also met the following colored Y. M. C. A. secretaries: Franklin 
Nichols, of Philadelphia, who has been here for more than a year; 
Prof. Moses A. Davis, of Evansville, Ind. ; Rev. D. Leroy Ferguson, 
erstwhile rector of the Colored Episcopal church at Louisville, Ky. ; 
Leon James, J. Green, and Wm. Stevenson. When I considered that 
all these Y. M. C. A. people, and most especially the women, forsook 
comfortable homes and zones of culture and refinement to come over 
here and, far from immediate relatives and friends, bury themselves 
among these colored soldiers in order that the greatest possible 
amount of sunshine might be shoved into the lives of these men 
helping to establish world democracy, I could not help but feel that 
those of the race^ back in the states, who are at an absolutely safe 
distance from German bullets, shrapnel and gas, should consecrate 
themselves, also, so far as within their power, to the rendering of aid 
and comfort to these soldiers of ours. 

''When I visited the hospital at this point and noted the many 
colored boys who were bearing their illness with a cheerfulness that 
was amazing, I could not help but feel much of the criticism one hears 
back in the states could well be held in abeyance and instead the 
efforts put forth in criticism expended in sympathy and efforts fo? 



SOCIAL WELFARE AGENCIES 407 

'our own' boys who are here so many thousand miles from home, 
enduring cheerfully for their country's sake. 

"The work being- performed by the stevedores, and by these 
colored Y. M. C. A. workers in the camps I have just visited, and the 
amicable relations existing between them and superior army officers, 
I feel certain, would be as disillusioning to the race back home as it 
has been, in many respects, to me. 

"Here one finds these colored men performing nearly every 
kind of work, skilled and unskilled. Their camp is a model of clean- 
liness — a cleanliness that would put to shame most of our cities back 
in the States, and a cleanliness in which the colored boys take a 
commendable pride. A fine brass band here, composed exclusively 
of stevedores, frequent moving picture showings, educational work, 
etc., conspire to make the 'after work' hours of these thousands of 
colored service men pass quickly and profitably. Recently General 
Pershing visited this camp and gave the boys an interesting talk, 
which has since been regarded by them as epochal. 

"Thus far, my only regret is that there w^ere not more colored 
Y. M. C. A. workers over here to enlarge and spread the splendid 
work being done by Mrs. Curtis, Mrs. Hunton and Miss Johnson. 
The right sort of women, fine, big-hearted, devoted colored women, 
have such a refining influence in camps such as this, and the colored 
Y. M. C. A. secretaries themselves are anxious for them, and feel that 
colored women, to a number proportionate with the number of white 
w^omen sent over by the Y. M. C. A., would further tend to make 
camp life for these soldiers ideal, and render easier the disciplinary 
work of the army." 

Early in April, 1919, some ten or twelve additional well- 
educated, solid, substantial women were selected and sent to France 
to work among colored soldiers and to supply the need mentioned 
by Mr. Tyler. 

The Knights of Columbus 

Another organization was of much service in making Negro 
soldiers comfortable at the front. This was the Knights of Colum- 
bus, a Catholic society, which has to its credit that, unlike the other 
social welfare organizations operating in the war, it never drew the 
color line. It provided separate huts for Negroes at some of the 



408 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

camps when special requests to this effect were received. These were 
recreational buildings, provided with home surroundings for the 
preparation of which no pains were spared. Such arrangements 
were made at Camp Meade, Camp Dodge, Camp Funston, Fort 
Eiley, and Camp Taylor. As an evidence of the general liberality 
of the management of the war work conducted by the Knights of 
Columbus, no better testimony can be given than that by Joseph 
J. Canavan in a report to the Kansas Plain-Dealer. 

"Under the system as it now has been working out," says he, 
''the Negro soldier needs no other countersign than his khaki uni- 
form to gain for him every advantage offered by the Knights' 
service. True there are places both in this country and abroad 
where the Knights of Columbus have erected special huts for the 
use of the Negro soldiers, but where that has been done it has 
been at the express request of the Negro soldiers themselves, who 
in numerous instances have expressed a preference for a building 
of their own where they may enjoy their own pleasure in their 
own way and be assured of meeting their own friends when and 
where and under circumstances they desired. Similarly the other 
day," says he, ''when there were six Negro soldiers in training at 
Port Jervis, New York, on their way to Goshen, New York, whence 
they were to start upon their journey to a training camp, it was 
a group of Knights of Columbus' secretaries who met them and 
supplied them with cigarettes and tobacco." It happened, how- 
ever, that the six Negroes did not take a train for Port Jervis. 
Instead the Knights loaded them into automobiles and drove them 
across the pretty hilly country to their point of departure for the 
camps. There were only six men in that draft consignment, but 
the Knights would have been as hearty and as generous if there 
had been 600. There have been innumerable instances where a 
larger number of men have been cared for and had their wants 
provided for by the Knights, as the men themselves have testified. 

Caring for Returned Soldiers 

Upon the signing of the Armistice and the return of soldiers 
from France, severing their connections with the social welfare 
organizations which had once cared for them, a serious problem 
presented itself to the American people. Many cities were stunned 



SOCIAL WELFARE AGENCIES 409 

by the sudden influx of so many soldiers. In some cases small 
towns did not have facilities adequate to the task of accommodat- 
ing the number which came even if it had been expecting them. 
Vice conditions in the communities became unspeakably bad, sol- 
diers were mingling with lewd women, and when their funds 
became exhausted, they became dissatisfied and even rebellious. 
The situation was in every sense an acute one, but no one could 
be blamed and no one was willing to accept the responsibility for 
improving the situation. 

Realizing the seriousness of this problem the whites and blacks 
endeavored to find some solution of the peculiar problem. This, 
however, was no problem peculiar to the Negro soldiers, for the 
whites were similarly situated. There were, however, a few narrow 
and prejudiced whites believing that anything was good enough 
for Negroes. There were also a good many men of color, and 
especially ministers and the like, who maintained an attitude of 
apa-thy towards these men returning from the war. Then there 
was, worst of all, a strained feeling between the whites and blacks 
in the various communities — a feeling apparently of long standing 
and intensified by war conditions. Upon the appearance, there- 
fore, of a few unusual types of soldiers of both races, with the 
misdemeanors which usually characterize persons lacking self- 
control, the situation was decidedly aggravated. 

The Wax Camp Community Service 

To find a way out of this difficulty it was planned to extend 
the War Camp Community Service. To various cities, and espe- 
cially to Philadelphia, Baltimore, Richmond, Newport News, Nor- 
folk, Portsmouth, Augusta, Chattanooga, Indianapolis, Kansas 
City, and San Antonio, Texas, were sent directors to enlighten the 
communities as to the inevitable results of the war, the reason 
for the appearance of the returned soldiers in the towns, and their 
responsibility to these veterans. Their first problem was to reach 
the churches and the schools. They addressed mass meetings, 
spoke before social groups, and had personal conferences with men 
of influence, to find their way into the hearts of the people. The 
next step was to convince the community that such an effort was 
worth while. A club house, too often some abandoned dilapidated 



410 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

building, was secured and remodeled to suit the peculiar needs of 
the time. Adequate furniture and equipment for dormitories and 
cafeteria service were supplied and a desirable club with a file of 
newspapers, branch circulating library, a hall for entertainments, 
in fact a social center, was provided for service in the community. 
Men generally stood aloof, but it was soon fomid that while in 
some cases the support of the schools and the churches could not 
be obtained, some business men and professional men of intelli- 
gence, character, and vision came to the support of these War 
Camp Community Service workers, and it was not long before the 
entertainment and the atmosphere maintained by the center con- 
vinced a majority of the people of their importance and value. 

It was soon possible thereafter to enlist the support of a larger 
number of influential people in the various communities. One 
organization after another engaged in the service and appeared at 
various times to entertain the soldiers assembled at these centers. 
Out of such beginnings came the support of the churches and other 
religious organizations. It was necessary to add other men and 
even women to the staff, so rapid was the progress and so exten- 
sive was the work. Club activities increased; soldiers were visited 
in the various camps and hospitals, friendly relations were estab- 
lished and business men were brought together, so as to cause a 
contact helpful to them in other ways. It then became possible to 
organize clubs in school buildings and Sunday schools, and women 
in clubs worked together in a practical way whenever the oppor- 
tunity came. Various ways in which they contributed may be 
summarized as follows: The community became reconciled and 
active in the service; it was then an easy matter to welcome the 
returning soldiers. Provision was made for their entertainment 
in the theaters; community centers and concerts were arranged for 
them; large numbers of citizens attended the recreation rallies 
and entertainments, dinners, and dances multiplied throughout 
the period of demobilization. 



CHAPTER XXIX 

NEGRO LOYALTY AND MORALE 

Eager Response of Colored Draftees — Notable Tributes to the 
Patriotism of the Negro Race by the White Press — Also by 
President Wilson, Secretary Baker, Secretary Daniels, and 
Others — Negro Loyalty Never Doubted — Patriotic Negro De- 
monstrations and Other Instances of Loycdty. 

When the United States declared war against Germany and 
the Teutonic allies, there were internal conditions existing in 
America that were by no means ideal so far as the Negro was con- 
cerned, nor were they altogether conducive to loyaity and a healthy 
morale among this pfarticular group of American citizens. Beset 
by a vicious and persistent propaganda on the one side, and by 
continued instances of lynching and mob violence of which he was 
the chief victim on the other, the Negro in America faced a real 
ciisis at the beginning of the war. Temptation after temptation 
was presented to him to render lukewarm and half-hearted sup- 
port to the Government in the prosecution of the war, without 
making himself criminally liable, but Negro leaders in all parts 
of the country recognized at once that the national crisis demanded, 
and the plain duty and best interests of the Negro racial group 
required that, without bargaining, there must be a pledge on the 
part of the Negro of his undiluted and unfaltering loyalty. 

History records no parallel where, under similar conditions, any 
racial group has been more loyal to the Government or has main- 
tained a higher morale than was tnie of colored Americans dur- 
ing the trying period of the recent war. The Negro pledged his 
loyalty and was depended upon in all sections of our country. He 
entered fully and bravely into the work of defending the ** Stars 
and Stripes." All propaganda efforts to weaken his morale abso- 
lutely failed. A black skin during the war was a badge of patriotism. 
The Negro was not unmindful of certain wrongs, injustices, 
and discriminations which were heaped upon his race in many 
sections of the countiy, but in the face of it all he remained ada- 

411 



412 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

mant against all attempts to lower liis morale, and realized that his 
first duty was loyalty to his country. America is indeed the Negro 's 
country, for he has been here three hundred years, which is about 
two hundred years longer than many of the white racial groups; 
he realized that he was formally declared a citizen of this country 
by the Constitution of the United States, and that although many 
of the rights and privileges of citizenship were still denied him, 
yet the plain course before him was to perforai all of the duties 
of citizenship and at the same time continue to press his demands 
for all of the rights and privileges which the Constitution has 
vouchsafed to him. He realized that he would not be in a position 
to demand his rights unless he fully performed his duties as an 
American citizen, and in thus lending his loyal allegiance he ex- 
emplified his belief in the doctrine expounded by Colonel Theodore 
Roosevelt to the effect that ''rights and privileges" are contingent 
upon the faithful discharge of the ''duties and responsibilities" of 
citizenship in any country. And so it was that although the lynch- 
ing evil and other wrongs against the Negro proceeded with un- 
abated fury, unrestrained even by the President's proclamation, 
the Negro remained steadfast in his loyalty to the Government. 
His last ounce of devotion was pledged without question to the 
principles of freedom and democracy for which America stood, and 
the thought uppermost in the minds of twelve million colored 
Americans was that the Teutonic allies should be brought to their 
knees, and that the war would result in the downfall of all kinds 
of tyranny and oppression. 

E£iger Response to the Draft 

Tf there was ever any question as to the Negro's loyalty, it 
was soon dispelled by the readiness with which he answered the 
draft call, by his eagerness to volunteer, even though in many 
instances denied this privilege; by the splendid spirit in which 
thousands of Negroes, educated and uneducated, accepted tasks 
assigned to them in non-combatant and Service of Supply regi- 
ments; and by the whole-hearted way in which Negro civilians, 
men, women, and children, representing every section of the 
country and every walk of life, responded to every call of the 
Nation. The valiant, varied, and effective services rendered by 



NEGRO LOYALTY AND MORALE 413 

four hundred thousand Negro soldiers who were called to the 
colors, both in camps and cantonments at home as well as upon 
the battlefields of Europe, canceled every possible doubt and 
furnished proof positive of the Negro's unfaltering loyalty. 

Many agencies sought to lower the morale of the Negro. Not 
only did German propagandists labor diligently i n certain sec- 
tions of the country, particularly among the unlettered element of 
the Negro population, in the effort to impress upon their minds 
the two fallacies that (1) America had no right or cause to engage 
in a foreign w^ar, and (2) that the Negro was foolish in fighting 
for a country which did not fully protect him in his rights as a 
citizen. Propagandists sought to advertise every instance of 
lynching, mob violence, or other wrong visited upon a member of 
the Negro race, with a view of turning him against his own 
country, and found additional fuel for their seditious flames in the 
anti-Negro attitude manifested by a number of white newspapers, 
governors of states, mayors of cities, legislators, race-prejudice- 
breeding moving picture show^s, etc., that were allowed to propa- 
gate a dangerous hate doctrine and to exert a disquieting influence 
even in the critical period of war. 

Propagandists emphasized racial discriminations of one kind 
or another and unfortunately were able to refer to the facts that 
the black American, supposedly a citizen, was in many states denied 
the ballot; that he was *Mim Crowed'* on many of the railroads 
and public carriers, although charged first-class fare for transporta- 
tion ; that he was denied admission to most public places of amuse- 
ment, hotels and the like. Using such arguments as a basis, the 
question was raised as to why the Negro was willing to jeopardize 
his life, his liberty, and his pursuit of happiness in coming to the 
rescue of America in her extremity and thus helping to defeat 
Germany — a country where, it was said, such racial discriminations 
did not exist. 

None of these questions, however, disturbed the thoughtful 
leaders of the Negro' people. They knew the designing motive 
back of such propaganda. They recognized, without question, that 
the moment the American Negro failed to perfonn all of the duties 
of citizenship, he immediately abdicated the right of claiming the 
full privileges of citizenship. The Negro leaders knew that the 



414 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

central tliought in the German mind and tlie traditional policy of 
the Central Powers was ''might/' and that "compelling force'' 
was intended to be nsed, as a part of a world-wide conquest, to 
reduce to German domination the weaker and other peace-loving 
peoples of the earth. They remembered something of the history 
of Germany's African colonies. They recognized that the great 
masses of the Negro race in America belong to a submerged group 
— seeking education, industrial opportunity, wealth — and, more than 
all, liberty, freedom, and the pursuit of happiness, and as a means 
of obtaining possession and permanent enjoyment of those price- 
less privileges (along with white Americans who vfere fighting 
for the same cause), they declared in the public press, in pulpits, 
upon the public rostrum, in lodge-rooms, in schools and everywhere 
— that no discouraging or untoward conditions existing among the 
Negro people must interfere with their whole-hearted support of 
their country's war program. 

Promoting the Negro Morale 

As a part of the Government's program of promoting a 
healthy morale among colored soldiers and colored Americans 
generally, the author was delegated by the Secretary of War to 
visit various camps and cantonments where colored soldiers were 
stationed, also leading centers of Negro population; first, for the 
purpose of learning as to conditions existing likely to affect their 
patriotism; and, second, for the purpose of delivering addresses 
such as would be calculated to promote the continued loyalty and 
a healthy morale among the members of this racial group. 

Preliminary to his tour of the Middle-West he made a care- 
ful investigation of conditions existing in Camps Meade, Dix, 
Lee, Upton, and others, and had sought to ameliorate conditions 
existing among colored soldiers stationed at those camps. This 
middle-western itinerary served to give the colored people full 
opportunity of hearing directly from a representative of the War 
Department with respect to its policy concerning Negro troops. 

The 92nd Division (colored) was trained at seven different 
cantonments. Early in May, 1918, it became evident that orders 
would shortly be issued for the entire division to go overseas, and 
it was therefore arranged that the author should ' ' swing around the 



NEGRO LOYALTY AND MORALE 415 

circle," visiting all camps not already visited, where any units of 
the 92nd Division were stationed, and speaking at snch strategic 
centers en route tlirough the AVest Where his itinerary would per- 
mit. As a part of this program he spoke at various times in all 
parts of the country, including Boston, Massachusetts; Chicago, 
Illinois; Kansas City, Missouri; New Y'ork City; St. Louis, Mis- 
souri; Indianapolis, Indiana; Cincinnati, Cleveland, and Columbus, 
Ohio; Atlanta, Georgia; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Baltimore, 
Maryland. 

His return to Washington about the middle of May brought the 
itinerary to a close. Though the gait at which he traveled was a 
strenuous one, he w^as immeasurably strengthened for his work by 
this intimate contact with the people of the country of both races, 
soldiers and civilians. Wise counsel and friendly encouragement 
were met with at every turn and he was convinced that the extended 
tour had not been made in vain. He had spoken thirty-two times, 
to thousands of his fellow-citizens, all of whom were impelled by 
a common impulse of patriotism. 

A high note of patriotism was sounded by thoughtful leaders 
of the Negro people in all walks of life. Negro editors, with but 
few exceptions, rallied to the Nation's call and wrote in a martial 
spirit; the Negro clergy put on the whole armor of patriotism and 
awakened the Negro laity to a sense of its duty, opportunity, and 
resjoonsibility ; Negro educators in all sections taught loyalty as 
a cardinal virtue and representative Negro public speakers sought 
diligently to maintain a healthy morale among the rank and file 
of colored Americans. 

It was also recognized on the part of the white people of the 
South and elsewhere that the Negro's loyalty was not to be ques- 
tioned, and representative white Americans, both North and South, 
testified in the public press that they regarded the Negro's un- 
divided loyalty as a valuable asset to the Nation. White news- 
papers all over the country devoted column after column of space 
to the whole-souled loyalty of colored Americans. 

Notable Newspaper Tribute 

'^The Negro population of the United States,** said the St. 
Louis Globe Democrat, ''is loyal to the core, and of all the fantasies 



416 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

of Germany diplomacy toward the alienation of elements of our 
composite population, after it was recognized that our declaration 
of war was coming — none was more fantastic than the well-accred- 
ited plot to turn our native colored citizens against the country with 
which all their fortunes are bound up and identified. 

*'It has been possible for Prussianism to find among us some 
weak and credulous people and some even who, coming here as 
aliens, have prospered greatly under our institutions, to be deluded 
with the notion that they could reap advantage out of the nation's 
humiliation and defeat. The colored citizen of the United States 
has a shrewd understanding of the fact that we must aU stand or 
fall together, and he doesn't want to fall. 

''Aside from all such practical considerations," continued the 
editor, ''there is a Negro loyalty which is one of the finest traits 
of the race. It has been sung in song and story. The older gen- 
erations were loyal even to those who were fighting to hold them 
in slavery, out of ties of love and affection which nothing could 
break. Men of the South, intelligent and high-charactered men, 
some of whom had personal and family knowledge of this fine 
fidelity and devotion, have permitted grosser elements to persecute 
the race, purely out of political considerations. We trust, and now 
believe, that that discreditable era is drawing to a close. It has 
been the one blot on an escutcheon never marred by want of valor 
or chivalry in fighting for a lost cause. 

/'The colored people are justifying all of our faith. Not only 
are they, at home, responding to every patriotic need, hut their men 
in the field, in France, are proving themselves ivorthy comrades of 
those U'ho so signally earned laurels at San Juan, and those who, 
on the Mexican border, under Pershing, proved themselves at 
Carrizal to he of the stuff American soldiers are made of.^' 

In Jackson, Mississippi, in the heart of the South, Rev. George 
Luther Cady, pastor of the First Congregational Church, preached 
a special sermon pleading for a deeper consideration of the black 
man and a fairer judgment of him in view of his demonstrated 
patriotism and dependability, especially in time of war. He em- 
phasized the fact that the crimes with which the Negro is charged 
are few in number and in proportion to those of the white popula- 
tion, and that, through the narrow viewpoint of the whites, his 




Ahm^e — Cdliiiid Ainiii<an Soldifis hoinu di'coiatici willi I tislinmiisluii Sc>i-\ i<-.' Crciss by 
Major-Genei al lOli Helniick of tht- rnitcd States Army in piosotuf of Admiral Moi-caii 
of the F"ienfh Navy. Below — Cfoup of Ne^ro OfHcors, S66th Infantr.v. l^. S. A. 
Left to Riqht — ('apt. L. H. C.odman. I.t. and Adj. Chas. S. Parker, ("apt. ("has. C. 
Kelley, ('apt. Wm. Hill. ('apt. ('. W. Owens, Capt. Geo. A. Holland, ('apt. \V. T. 
Thompson, 2iid Lt. Wm. D. Nabors. 




Above — The Curtis brothers, three sons of Dr. and Mrs. A. M. Curtis, Washinston. D. C, 
commissioned as Officers in United States Army. Left to Right — A. Maurice Curtis, 
Medical Reserve Corps; Arthur L. Curtis, 368th Medical Corps; Merrill H. Curtis. 
349th Field Artillery, all First Lieutenants. .- ^ ,^ ^ ^ ^ -r. ^^ 

Below — The Gould family of fighters. Seated in front is Wm; B. Gould of East Dedham. 
Mass a veteran of the Civil War. Standing- are his six sons who have also served 
their country. Left to Right — Lawrence W. Gould, 1st I.,t. James E. Gould, Major >V^m. 
B Gould Jr., Lt. Herbert R. Gould, 1st Lt. Ernest M. Gould, and Frederick C. Gould. 




Toil I.. It til ]li^:lit — liiu] LI. .[as. T.. H.>iaii-. liit.l. Offlc.i-. :',ti.'.tli liiT.; -Jiui 1. 1. St.i.li.n K. 
Moses, Jr., 351st K. A.: 1st lA. Marion T. Jthot.-n. Hdqis. 'ri..-.i). y^iul l>iv.: 1-t. I'lank 
U Frances, M. G. Co. 366th Int. , , . . 

Left, Center — 1st Lt. Kdward C. Knox, 349th Mchn. Ciin I'.at. hUt/ht. i .'nl>'r — C apt. Spuhr 
H. Dickey, 351st Mchn. Gun Bat. , . , , . ,> i. . ,, 

liottom. Left — Capt. Beverley L. Dorsey, 317th Am. Tr. Bottom, HiLilit— ( apt. Hubert 1.. 
Chubb, 367th Inf. „ ^ , • ^ r. 

Center Panel — Serg^t. Wm. I'.utler of Salisbury, .Md., who received the ( roix de Guerre 
from the French Government and nistinunished Service Cross and Sharpshnoter'.s 
Medal from the Ignited States Government. Tlie story of Serut. F.utler and his hand 
to hand encounters with the r.oches is related in full in this volume. 



NEGRO LOYALTY AND MORALE 417 

crimes have been mag-nified without keeping in mind the short- 
comings of his white brothers. 

Mr. Bolton Smith, a representative white Southern gentleman 
of Memphis, Tennessee, impressed by Negro loyalty and possessed 
with a high sense of justice, wrote Governor Tom C. Rye, of 
Tennessee, as follows: **The Government of the United States 
is controlled by Southern men. It has called the Negro to the 
defense of the colors, and the American people will demand that 
a race thus honored shall be granted the justice of a fair trial 
when accused of crime. We all know that when guilty there is no 
doubt of full punishment. As Secretaiy of the Tennessee Law 
and Order League, organized to stop lynching, I urge you to issue 
a proclamation to our people pointing out the treasonable effect 
of such lynchings." 

A white newspaper of Texas published an article that was 
reprinted in the Houston Observer and other Negro journals, 
headed ''The Black Man Stood Pat and Fought the Good Fight/' 
In the course of the article it was stated: "The war did more for 
the American Negro than had been accomplished in several decades 
of peace. He demonstrated that he could fight — that his willing- 
ness and capacity for work were unlimited; that he could easily 
adapt himself to strange surroundings and that he understood the 
purpose of Liberty Bonds, which he almost invariably bought until 
it actually and positively 'hurt.' One of the most glorious things 
that happened to the Negro, however, was the revelation of his 
absolute, unshakable loyalty to the Stars and Stripes. Evidence 
adduced before a Senate Committee shows that German propa- 
gandists failed miserably in their efforts among the blacks. That 
they operated principally among the plantation Negroes of the 
South and there made no headway whatever, is significant. It is 
a splendid tribute to the Americanism of the Negro. It might 
be supposed that among men and women who are not regular 
readers of the newspapers, who tnist to the 'grapevine,' which 
makes a wireless station of every cabin, for most of their informa- 
tion, the fairy tales of the paid Gennan agents would find fertile 
ground. But the Negro stood pat. 'You have no country,' was 
an insidious remark that was dinned into his ears night and day. 
'You'll never get your Liberty Bond money back,' was another. 



418 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

* You '11 get forty acres of land if the Germans win,' they were 
told. And they were assured that victory for the 'humane' Ger- 
mans meant an end of all hangings and instant leveling of all 
social lines in the United States. Many tvhite 'intellectuals' in 
the North succumbed to sophistries and lies, hut those hla-ch mil- 
lions did not. Their hearts proved pure gold and they stood hy 
Uncle Sam. The Secret Service needed no special trains for Negro 
excursions to internment camps. It is that same inborn spirit of 
loyalty to the Goven^nment that has prevented the I. W. W. front 
gaining converts among the blacks of the South, no matter how 
poor they are or how unjust their position eco'nomically." 

Tributes by Wilson, Baker and Daniels 

President Woodrow "Wilson, in a special memorandum which 
accompanied his commutation of the sentences of a group of 
Negro soldiers who were charged with being implicated in the 
Houston (Texas) riot, paid tribute to the loyalty and fidelity of 
colored Americans. Similar tributes were frequently paid by Hon. 
Newton D. Baker, Secretaiy of War. In a special message of 
encouragement and confidence which he addressed to the Chicago 
Branch of the National Security League, which held a patriotic 
mass meeting at the Coliseum in Chicago, Februaiy 12, 1918, the 
Secretary of War wrote: ''As stated to you in the telegraphic 
reply which Mr. Emmett J. Scott, my Special Assistant, forvvarded 
to you at my instance and request, I sincerely wish it were possible 
for me to be present on the occasion referred to, for I would then 
have a splendid opportunity to tell of the fine spirit with which the 
great test of the quality of Amenca is being met by the colored 
people of our country. * * * j wish, however, in view of my 
enforced absence, to send, especially to the colored Americans of 
your community and elsewhere, just a few words of encourage- 
ment and confidence. * * * In a most encouraging degree, it 
is being regarded by colored citizens throughout the country as a 
privilege and as a duty to give liberally of their substance, of their 
time, of their talents, of their energy, of their influence, and in 
every way possible, to contribute toward the comfort and success 
of our fighting units and those of our allies across the seas. The 
colored men, who were subject to draft, are to be commended 



NEGRO LOYALTY AND MORALE 419 

upon their promptness and eagerness in registering their names 
for service in the National Army, and like\\dse mention is made 
of the relatively low percentage of exemption claims filed by 
them. Those in the service of their country, I am sure, will prove 
faithful and efiScient, and will uphold the traditions of their race." 

In addition to the splendid tributes paid to Negro loyalty, 
time after time, by Colonel Theodore Roosevelt and William H. 
Taft, both former Presidents of the United States, Hon. Josephus 
Daniels, Secretary of the Navy, at a banquet given in his honor by 
the citizens of Albany, N. Y., on Flag Day,. June 14, 1918, warmly 
commended the colored people for their never-failing devotion to 
the American flag. In introducing Secretary Daniels at the 
afternoon gathering, following a monster parade, former Governor 
Martin H. Glynn referred to the fact that Henry Johnson, an 
Albany colored soldier who was cited by General Pershing for 
extreme valor on the battlefield, was bom in North Carolina, near 
Secretary Daniel's home. The Secretary, in mentioning Private 
Johnson in his speech, paid a high tribute to the colored people 
of the South ; he said that while * * there has been occasion to question 
the patriotism of some of the people in this country, the loyalty 
of the colored citizens had never been in doubt/^ 

Upon the floor of the House of Representatives of the United 
States, a Southern CongTCSsman — Hon. R. W. Austin, of Tennes- 
see, paid glowing tribute to Negro soldiers and warmly commended 
the loyal part that the Negro citizenship of the countiy was play- 
ing in helping to win the war. He read into the Congressional 
Record the wonderful tribute which General Pershing, Command- 
ing Ofiicer of the American Expeditionary Forces, paid to the 
colored soldiers, and stated that not only in the military ranks 
were Negro patriots to be found, but likewise they were serving 
in munition plants, in mines, in factories, foundries, and upon the 
farm, doing their utmost to support their Government in the time 
of stress and storm. He bore cheerful testimony to the loyalty of 
this racial group and stated that in his section of the country, the 
South, the Negro people had not only furnished their full quota 
for the Army but had liberally subscribed to Liberty Loans, the 
Red Cross, and the Army Y. M. C. A. funds. He closed his ad- 
dress by saying: ''It gives me pleasure to place upon the endur- 



420 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

ing records of the Government this brief but true and deserved 
tribute to the loyalty, fidelity, and patriotism of the colored citizens 
of America." 

Negro Loyalty Never Doubted 

Even though white men who held positions high in the public 
life of the country were, in some cases, under suspicion as to 
their loyalty and several members of the United States Congress 
were charged with entertaining anti-American ideas — one of the 
latter being convicted in a court of law on the charge of disloyalty, 
he it said to the everlasting credit of the Americmi Negro, it 
was never necessary to question his loyalty. This racial group 
placed itself squarely on the side of a wider democracy for all 
peoples, as expressed by the President in his public utterances, 
and gave cordial sanction to that sentiment contained in the Presi- 
dent's address delivered July 4, 1918, at Washing-ton's Tomb, 
when he said: ''What we seek is the reign of law based upon the 
consent of the governed and sustained by the organized opinion 
of mankind.'* 

Notable among the patriotic meetings and parades conducted 
in all sections of the country to sustain the morale of the colored 
people were those which occurred (1) at Wilmington, Delaware, 
under the direction of Mrs. Alice Dunbar-Nelson, whose splendid 
efforts in mobilizing the colored women of the country for war 
work is referred to elsewhere in this volume; and (2) at St. Louis, 
Missouri, where a "Negro Loyalty Day" was observed, June 13, 
1918, featured by a "Loyalty Day Parade and Patriotic Benefit" 
under the auspices of the Colored Women's Unit of the Council of 
National Defense, with Mrs. Victoria Clay Haley, as Chairman. 
Colored men and women from every walk of life, including thou- 
sands of school children enthusiastically took a part in these 
patriotic demonstrations; some of the special sections of the St. 
Louis parade included representatives of the Colored Waiters' 
Alliance, Wayman A. M. E. Church, Summer High School, Banne- 
ker School, Simmons School, Cottage School, Dessalines School, 
Lincoln School, Delany School, colored employees of the Post Office, 
St. Louis Medical Forum, Boosters' Club, Young Ladies' Beading 
Club, colored Patrons from Kinlock and Ferguson, Missouri, First 



NEGRO LOYALTY AND MORALE 421 

Baptist Church, Church of God, A. M. E. Churcli, Olive Street 
Terrace Realty Company, Negro business and professional men of 
St. Louis, and others. The two parades mentioned above, and 
many others, reached the high-water mark of Negro patriotism. 

In New Orleans, La., a monster parade was held by colored 
citizens, each marcher carrying an American flag. Some of the 
strikingly worded banners were: *' Stand by Our President'*; 
♦'What It Takes To Lick the Kaiser, We've Got It"; "Victory 
Calls Us"; ''The Colored Man Is No Slacker." A squad of steve- 
dores who had served under General Pershing in France and 
sailors from the Algiers Naval Training Station headed the parade ; 
they were some of the troops who built the great docks in France. 

In point of numbers, enthusiasm and fidelity to the cause the 
parade held in Atlanta, Georgia, was also a tremendously signifi- 
cant demonstration. Negro laborers, factory hands, porters, and 
workers in stores and office buildings, chauffeurs, gardeners, and 
other colored employees were granted by their employers a special 
half-holiday in order that they might participate in the Loyalty 
Parade; and along Tv^th them marched hundreds of other men, 
women, and children, representing practically every phase of Negro 
life. Along the route of the parade the marchers were liberally 
applauded by their white fellow-citizens, who were much impressed 
with the spirit of the occasion and who gladly contributed to its 
success. 

Other Instances of Loyalty 

The enthusiastic farewells that were given to departing Negro 
draftees and soldiers by their mothers, wives, and other relatives 
and friends furnished by no means the least valuable evidence of 
the self-sacrificing loyalty of this entire racial group. In numerous 
cities could be witnessed scenes where Negro enlisted men marched 
through the streets, on their way to camp, accompanied by cheer- 
ing throngs of colored women, men, and children carrying flags and 
filling the air with shoutings of patriotism. Nor was their loyalty 
merely vocal, for it found additional concrete expression in the 
purchase of Liberty Bonds, War Savings Stamps, and the like. 
Miss Kate M. Herring, Director of Publicity for the North Caro- 
lina War Savings Committee, has published in Northern and South- 



422 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

ern magazines some interesting facts in regard to the thrift cam* 
paigns among Negroes in her State. In the "Black Belt," where 
m fourteen counties the Negroes average 56 per cent of the popula- 
tion, she wrote, the average subscription loas 80 per cent of the 
allotment, 4 per cent more than in the State at large. In the 
county which subscribed 128 per cent of its allotment, the Negroes 
constitute 47 per cent of the population. They furnished 42 to 
61 per cent of the thirteen of the nineteen counties ivhich subscribed 
100 per cent or over. Subscriptions ranged from that of a Negro 
who took the limit of one thousand dollars for each member of his 
family to those whose subscriptions were paid for in 25-cent stamps, 
including a washerwoman with a, blind husband who subscribed for 
$50 worth for herself and him. 

Another extraordinary case indicating the sublime patriotism 
and loyalty of the Negro was that of David H. Haynes, a colored 
farmer of Thibodeaux, Louisiana, who subscribed for $100,000 
worth of the Fourth issue of Liberty Bonds while fighting was at 
its height, making note of his confidence in the Government and 
his determination to risk his all in defense of the lofty purpose and 
high ideals that caused America's entrance into the arena of war. 
This is said to be the largest individual subscription made by any 
citizen in the state of Louisiana and was certainly the largest pur- 
chase of its kind made in the country by a colored man. 

That the Negro was a willing factor in the war has been so 
convincingly demonstrated on so many occasions that additional 
evidence is scarcely necessary; a striking case in point, however, 
may be noted in the journeying at his own expense from Birming- 
ham, Alabama, to Washington, D. C, of Archie Neely, a stalwart 
young colored American, to enlist in the Army. It was stated that 
he had been refused by the Local Boards at his home, denied the 
privilege of voluntary enlistment, but was so detemiined to battle 
for Uncle Sam that he scraped together the necessary funds and 
came to Washing-ton to see the officials of the War Department in 
person and tender his services ; his personality was so inviting and 
his plea so effective that he left the War Department with a paper 
authorizing him to proceed at once to Camp Meade. 

Another striking individual case is that of John Ward, colored, 
of Goldsboro, North Carolina, who, according to th^ sheriff of the 



NEGRO LOYALTY AND MORALE 423 

county, had thirteen (13) of his eighteen (18) sons in the United 
States AiTny, while his daughters were busy with war work- 
Aside from the immensely valuable part performed by the Negro 
press during the war, representative colored men and women in 
every section of the country appeared upon the public platform and 
delivered patriotic addresses before countless audiences composed 
of members of their racial group with a view of stimulating their 
patriotism, and to prevent any possibility of their yielding to sinis- 
ter influences which tended to weaken their morale. All of them 
seemed to realize the fact that no matter how well equipped a nation 
may be in a material Avay, it cannot win any worth-while victory 
imless it is able to maintain among all groups of citizens that indefin- 
able, spiritual something wliich is called *^ MORALE.'* In its gen- 
eral application it is a *' moral condition" or a ''mental state" which 
renders a man capable of endurance and of exhibiting c-ourage in the 
presence of danger, but in time of war it becomes a spiritual force 
which keeps men constant in their devotion to their country's flag. 
Whether the Stars and Stripes was carried into battle by Negro 
soldiers or held in the hands of patriotic Negro citizens — during the 
recent war as in all other wars, **the old flag never touched the 
ground." 

A Negro's Idea of Loyalty 
Henry Watterson, editor of the Louis\dlle Courier- Journal, a 
Democratic newspaper, published an editorial expression regard- 
ing the address of a colored man w^hich was quite generally repub- 
lished throughout the countiy. The address was also published in 
the Congressional Record. Mr. Watterson wrote: 

"With all his genius and culture, Roscoe Conkling Simmons is a Negro. 
His college degrees and personal refinement cannot change his blood or color 
or make him one bit less a member of a race regarded as socially, econom- 
ically and mentally inferior to the white. 

That Louisville is proud of him as a citizen; that the Negro people of 
the countrj^ look to him for leadership much as they did to his illustrious 
uncle, Booker T. Washington; that men of prominence in the nation axicord 
him fellowship and a place in high councils, does not change his status. 

For these very reasons, his words, spoken the other day before a gather- 
ing of his own race, should spread a blush of shame on the Caucasian skins 
of some who are conspicuous in the eyes of the nation just now. When men 



424 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

of superior learning and vaunted super-race connections, intrusted with tho 
solemn duty of serving and protecting their country's destiny, join with 
foreign tyrant cut-throats to heap contumely upon the nation's head and tie 
the hands stretched out to protect the lives and rights of Americans; when 
sniveling white pacifists join with all the traitor-slacker crew to invite 
national disgrace and ruin, well may this member of an " inferior race ' ' boast : 

''We have a record to defend, but no treason, thank God, to atone or 
explain. "While in chams we fought to free white men — from Lexington to 
Carrizal — and returned again to our chains. No Negro has ever insulted the 
flag. No Negro ever struck down a President of these United States. No 
Negro ever sold a military map or secret to a foreign government. No Negro 
ever ran under fire or lost an opportunity to serve, to fight, to bleed and to 
die in the republic 's cause. Accuse us of what you will — ^justly and wrongly — 
no man can point to a single instance of our disloyalty. 

"We have but one country and one flag, the flag that set us free. Its 
language is our only tongue, and no hyphen bridges or qualifies our loyalty. 
Today the nation faces danger from a foreign foe, treason stalks and skulks 
up and down our land. In dark councils intrigue is being hatched. I am a 
Republican, but a Wilson Republican. Woodrow Wilson is my leader. What 
he commands me to do I shall do. Where he commands me to go I shall go. 
If he caUs me to the colors, I shall not ask whether my colonel is black or 
white. I shall be there to pick out no color except the white of the enemy's 
eye. Grievances I have against this people, against this Government. Injus- 
tice to me there is, bad laws there are upon the statute books, but in this 
hour of peril I forget — and you must forget — all thoughts of self or race or 
creed or politics or color. That, hoys, is loyalty/' 

That this address was a notable piece of diction and oratory means little, 
save as a tribute to the talent and erudition of its author and an augury of 
what may come from others of his race when given his opportunities. As a 
rebuke to the traitors and Americans not worthy of the name it deserves the 
widest reading, while such white men as La Follette, Stone, 'Gorman, Var- 
daman, Works, Bryan and all their ilk, instead, perhaps, of being tarred and 
feathered black, should be forced to read these words of a black man. 

Negro Love for the United States 
In one of his interesting letters from France, Ealph W. Tyler, 
the accredited representative of the Committee on Public Informa- 
tion, wrote as follows : 

**For some time, prior to sailing for France, I was cognizant 
of a very general belief that many of the colored soldiers here in 
France, because of the unrestricted freedom and absolute equality 



NEGRO LOYALTY AND MORALE 425 

doled out cheerfully to all people of the Allies, without respect to 
color, would locate here after the war. I have interviewed hundreds 
of the boys, and I have not found one who expressed a desire to 
remain here. This reluctance !a remain in France longer than the 
close of the war is no reflectior upon La Belle France, but rather a 
high testimony to the loyalty of the colored man to his own and 
native land. I have talked with colored men who came from Dr. 
Vernon's ''Everglades of Florida"; with many who came from the 
State of Texas, made famous so far as colored men are concerned, 
by Emmett J. Scott, the achieving Special Assistant to the Secretaiy 
of War; with those from Alabama, knowTi principally because of the 
fact that the late Dr. Booker T. Washington laid the foundation 
for his fame there. I have talked with many from Mississippi, 
Georgia, and other Southern States, and, without exception, all, w^hile 
willing to remain here until German militarism is crushed, want to 
get back 'home' to the States as soon as peace is declared. The 
burden of their song is : ' My countiy ! Eight or wrong, my CQun- 
try!' 'With all thy faults, I love thee still.' 

"To me this eagerness, on the part of colored soldiers, in the 
face of the absolutely unrestricted freedom offered them by France, 
and while willing cheerfully to remain here, and die here if neces- 
sary, to secure world democracy, is the finest possible testimony to 
the loyalty to their countiy — the United States — of the 175,000 col- 
ored soldiers who are noiv in the service of their country on French 
soil. To a man they mil retura to the States as gladly as they em- 
barked for France. 

' ' Those of the race back in the States who complain because of 
a restricted sugar and flour allowance, etc., but who, nevertheless, 
enjoy Sundays and holidays for themselves as days bereft of work, 
perhaps would not complain were they over here at the front where 
there is neither rest nor Sundays for the boys who must fight and 
work seven days in the week, rain or shine, hot or cold. But these 
boys over here accept most cheerfully the inclusion of Sundays 
and holidays as duty days, and rain and cold as no excuse for relief 
from work and fight — a necessity, now, to achieve world democracy. 
The colored men of this Division, commissioned officers and men in 
the ranks, I find, are anxious to contribute their mite and their 
MIGHT to maintain the best traditions of the American Army.'* 



CHAPTER XXX 

DID THE NEGRO SOLDIER ( ^ A SQUARE DEAL? 

Reports of Widespread Discrimination and Harsh Treatment in 
Camp — Many Manifestations of Prejudice by White Officers — 
The Question of White or Negro Officers for Negro Regi- 
ments — Higher Officers of the Army Usually Fair — Disinclina- 
tion to Utilize Colored Nurses and Colored Medical Men — Sec- 
retary Baker's Efforts to Prevent Race Discrimination — 
Reports of Negro Observers on Conditio'ns Overseas. 

In discussing the question, ''Did the Negro soldier get a square 
deal ? " it is pertinent, first, to show the occasion for the inquiry, and, 
incidentally, such worthy purpose as will be sei^ved by the treatment 
of that question in this volume. It is a question that has been re- 
peatedly suggested by articles and editorials, reports of war corre- 
spondents, and the like, which have appeared in the Negro press and 
other publications of the country, based upon information received 
from various sources, including letters of criticism written by Negro 
soldiers and officers, chaplains, Y. M. C. A. secretaries, special in- 
vestigators, and others, concerning conditions among Negro soldiers 
in camps at home as well as overseas, and, in some cases, based upon 
official orders that have been issued with reference to Negro soldiers 
in the Army of the United States. 

It is a question necessarily aif ecting the morale of colored Amer- 
icans which must be frankly met and impartially considered. To 
dodge it would be unworthy of an honest historian whose duty it is 
to chronicle facts, and might deny to the Negro race and also the 
Government the opportunity of learning some valuable lessons from 
the war, of mutual profit not only in the present but possibly in the 
future. Therefore its discussion in this volume has a three-fold 
purpose: (1) To enable colored Americans to know the truth about 
conditions which existed among soldiers of their race during the 
war; (2) to correct certain false impressions which have been made 
upon the minds and hearts of colored Americans based, in some iu- 

426 



DID THE NEGRO SOLDIER GET A SQUARE DEAL? 427 

stances at least, upon certain exaggerated, erroneous, and incomplete 
statements they may have read or heard with reference to such con- 
ditions and which impressions, unless corrected, are capable of 
working serious harm; (3) to disclose what opportunities were ac- 
corded, and what measure of justice was meted out to Negro soldiers, 
officers, and war workers by the War Department and by others in 
authority. 

A grave mistake can he made hy any one who looks only on one 
side of a question! While it has been the consistent policy of the 
Special Assistant never to condone nor minimize wrong or injustice 
in any form or wherever found, yet it is no less important that we 
should never be so completely absorbed and ovei-w^helmed with our 
grievances that we cannot find time and have vision to * * look on the 
other side of the shield," — thereby gaining encouragement and 
strength to fight for improved conditions. Therefore, it is hoped 
that the frank discussion contained in this chapter will make for a 
better understanding between the Negro and the Government he has 
served so well. May it also tend toward the adoption of a better 
attitude and policy on the part of the Government toward the Negro 
soldier and citizen and, at the same time, enable colored Americans 
generally to properly appreciate the difficulties which were con- 
fronted, as well as the measure of justice which was attempted and 
meted out by the Government during the recent war, which involved 
the handling of millions of men. 

Instances of Unfair Treatment 

In view of the fact that the majority of Negro soldiers were 
commanded largely by white men and the records which they will 
finally make will most likely defend their owti side of the case, it will 
be difficult to bring a majority of the white people of the country 
around to the position of thinking that the treatment of Negro sol- 
diers in the Army was other than honorable. With all those who are 
fair-minded, however, due weight will be given to the complainants 
in the case, namely the thousands of Negro soldiers who complained 
and protested. It must also be remembered in this connection that 
Ai-my rules and regulations rigidly require all complaints to be made 
by a soldier through regular military channels,— that is through his 
immediate commanding officer, and, in the very nature of the case, 



428 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

it becomes at times extremely difficult for a soldier, even tlioiigTi 
unjustly treated, to publish his grievances or to obtain proper and 
prompt redress. 

In the beginning of the draft, when men were being first called 
to the colors, there was much apprehension among Negroes as to 
whether they would be treated as other soldiers in the camps. The 
manifest discrimination practiced by various Local Draft Boards 
against Negro men in many sections under the Selective Service 
Law, together with the almost certain knowledge that they would, 
in many instances, be placed under the command of white officers, 
some of whom at least, it was feared, would not entertain a friendly 
and sympathetic attitude toward them, increased their apprehension. 
The fact that three Local Draft Boards were peremptorily ordered 
removed by the Secretary of War because of their flagrant injustice 
to Negro draftees is in itself a *' straw" which shows that the wind 
was blowing in the wrong direction. Instances upon instances can 
be cited to show that the Negro did not get a ' ' square deal ' ' in the 
draft ; in many sections he contributed many more than his quota ; and 
in defiance of both the spirit and letter of the draft law, Negro 
married men with large families to support were impressed into 
military service regardless of their protests and appeals, and their 
wives, children, and dependents suffered uncalled-for hardships. 
Local Draft Boards, in almost every instance composed exclusively 
of white men, were in a position, if so inclined, to show favoritism to 
men of their own race; the official figures of the draft reveal the 
fact that in many sections of the country exemptions were granted 
white men who were single with practically no dependents, while 
Negroes were conscripted into service regardless of their urgent need 
in Agriculture or the essential industries, and mthout considering 
their family relations or obligations. 

Would it not have been eminently just and fair, and more in 
line with the spirit of the American Constitution, to luive granted 
the Negro Ms rightful quota of representation on Local Draft Boards 
and District Boards of Appeal ivhich passed upon matters of such 
vital consequence to him? This is a question which should be an- 
swered in the affirmative. 

The Negro was willing to do his full share of the fighting, but 
the official record shows that he was called upon to do more than his 



DID THE NEGRO SOLDIER GET A SQUARE DEAL? 429 

share under the Draft Law, for, although constituting 10.7 per cent 
of the total population of the United States, he contributed 13.08 
per cent of the total colored and white inductions from June 5, 1917, 
to November 11, 1918. He had practically no representation upon 
the Draft Boards which passed upon his appeals — an arrangement 
which was wholly at variance with the theoiy of American institu- 
tions. 

To catalogue or specify all of the complaints that have come to 
the War Department, that have been published in the Negro press, 
and that have been contained in letters written to the relatives of 
Negro soldiers with reference to unfair treatment accorded them 
would be an almost endless task, and w^ould consume far more space 
than can possibly be allotted in this volume, but a few typical ones 
are given herein. They include charges of harsh and even brutal 
treatment by some of their commanding officers and especially by 
white *' non-coms" who were placed over them. 

Colored Americans have deeply resented the "table of organi- 
zation" which denied colored soldiers the privilege of serving as 
non-commissioned officers over men of their own race. It was fur- 
ther alleged in numerous cases that white officers and white "non- 
coms" required of them unusually hard tasks under the most trying 
circumstances and frequently cursed them, beat them, domineered 
over them as if they w^ere "slaves" instead of fellows in a common 
cause, and applied to them all manner of epithets and opprobrious 
terms such as "nigger," "darkey," "coon," and other more objec- 
tionable terms. A lack of medical care and proper nursing, inferior 
food, clothing, and sleeping accommodations were also alleged. In 
one camp in ^^irginia it was actually found that no adequate facilities 
whatsoever had been provided for Negro soldiers who were sick; 
they were huddled together, fourteen, sixteen and eighteen in one 
tent, without any wooden floors in the tents, although it was in the 
midst of the cold winter of 1917, and with practically no hospital 
accommodations. The official record of conditions then obtaining at 
Camp Hill, Virginia, conclusively proves that the Negro soldier 
did not get a square deal at that particular camp, at that particular 
time, for white soldiers had ample hospital accommodations, suitable 
barracks or floors in their tents, and were not huddled together as 
were the Negro soldiers, whose abnormally high death rate, due to 



430 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

pneumonia, was directly traceable to the unfair conditions they were 
forced to endure. 

Similar disparities between accommodations provided for white 
and colored soldiers occurred at other camps and occasioned con- 
siderable complaint. Perhaps, hoivever, nothing contributed so much 
to friction in the Army as did the assignment of, and the ivrongful 
attitude manifested hy white " non-coms'' who served in connection 
with Negro troops. 

Comments by the White Press 

Not only did the Negro press notice, and protest against various 
indignities visited upon Negro soldiers, but many of the white news- 
papers made comments thereupon. An editorial in the Netv York 
World read in part as follows : 

* ' It is our claim that we are fighting this war to make the world 
safe for DEMOCRACY. Democracy implies equality of privilege 
and equal obligation of service. // we fight for this for the world in 
general we ought to he prepared to practice it among ourselves. At 
present we mingle democracy with discriminations. All the elements 
of our citizenship do not stand on the same level. But there is no way 
of evading the fact that under a modem military regime — one of uni- 
versal service — all elem.ents of our citizenship 7nust stand on the same 
level. No distinction can be drawn in applying the military code 
between tvhite soldiers and black soldiers, betiveen white officers and 
black officers. They are all fighting for the same cause and deserve 
the same credit for doing so. Yet, only the other day a Negro officer 
revisiting his home in Vicksburg, Mississippi, was counseled by 
friends to put on civilian clothes, for fear that he might be mobbed 
if he appeared on the streets in the uniform of a United States Army 
officer. * * * The Govermnent is telling all Americans that they 
have an equal stake in the war. All are invited to put their energies 
and resources into a common pool. But if the enterprise is conmion 
and the burdens are common, the glory must also be common." 

It has been reliably reported that Lieutenant Joseph B. Saun- 
ders, the Negro army officer evidently referred to in the article just 
quoted, was abused, knocked off the sidewalk, and set upon by certain 
residents or citizens of Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he had gone to 



DID THE NEGRO SOLDIER GET A SQUARE DEAL? 431 

visit his parents; and compelletl to remove his uniform and escape 
from that city in disgnise to avoid mob violence. 

The effort to humiliate Negro officers and to either prevent or 
limit their utilization in the Army assumed what appeared to be a 
decidedly organized form. In the first place the West Point officers' 
group seemed to look with resentment upon all aiTciy officers who, 
after a few months' intensive training in camp were awarded the 
same commissions for which they had had to sudy four years at the 
West Point Military Academy, and they seemed especially disinclined 
to regard favorably colored officers so easily elevated to their rank. 

The colored people had cause to feel that there seemed to be a 
common understanding in many quarters that, wherever possible, 
the Negro officer should be discredited and that the Negro soldier 
should be praised only for what he did when led by white officers. 
To get rid of the Negro officers serving overseas, the plan was 
usually that set forth in the following document: 

FROM: The Commanding Officer, 372nd Infantry. 

TO: The Commandmg General, American Expeditionary Forces. 

SUBJECT: Replacement of colored officers by white officers. 

1. Request that colored officers of this regiment be replaced by white 
officers for the following reasons : 

First: The racial distinctions which are recognized m civilian life nat- 
urally continue to be recognized in the military life and present a formidable 
barrier to the existence of that feeling of comradeship which is essential to 
mutual confidence and esprit de corps. 

Second: With a few exceptions there is a characteristic tendency 
among colored officers to neglect the welfare of their men and to perform 
their duties in a perfunctory manner. They are lacking in initiative. 
These defects entaU a constant supervision and attention to petty details by 
battalion commanders and other senior officers which distract their atten- 
tion from their wider duties ; with hannful results. 

2. To facilitate the desired readjustment of official personnel it is 
recommended : 

(A) That no colored officers bo forwarded to this regiment, replace- 
ments or otherAvise. 

(B) That officers removed upon recommendation of efficiency boards 
be promptly replaced by white officers of like grade. But, if white officers 
are not available as replacements, white officers of lower grades bo for- 
warded instead. 



432 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

(C) That the opportunity be afforded to transfer the remaining col- 
ored combat officer personnel to labor organizations or to replacement units 
for other colored combat organizations according to their suitability. 

3. Reference letter No. 616-3s written by Commanding General 157th 
D. I. on the subject August 21, 1918, and forwarded to your office through 
military channels. 

(Signed) Herschel Tupes, 

Colonel, 372nd Infantry. 
Received A. G, 0. 
26th Aug., 1918. 

G. H. Q., A. E. F. 

1st Ind. (Endorsement.) 
G. H. Q., A. E. F., France, August 28, 1918. 
To Commanding Officer, 372nd Infantry, A. E. F. 

1. Returned. 

2. Paragraph two is approved. 

3. You will submit by special courier requisition for white officers to 
replace officers relieved upon the recommendation of efficiency board. 

4. You will submit list of names of officers that you recommend to be 
transferred to labor organization or to replacement units for other colored 
combat organizations; stating in each case the qualifications of the officers 
recommended. 

By Command of General Pershing : 

(Signed) W. P. Bennett, Adjutant General. 
2nd hid. {Endorsertient.) 
Hq. 372nd Infantry, S. P., 179, France, September 4, 1918. 
To Commanding General, A. E. F., France. 

1. Requisition in compliance with par. 3, 1st Ind., is enclosed herewith. 
Special attention is invited to the filling of two original vacancies by 
appointment. • , 

In the carrying out of these apparently well-matured plans, 
various Negro officers were cited to appear before Efficiency Boards, 
and in practically every case the decision seemed to go against 
them. Those pronounced ''inefficient" were easily disposed of 
and when the question arose as to how their positions might be 
filled there was not in France every time a sufficiency of Negro 
officers in reserve for this purpose. The military staff then availed 
themselves of the opportunity to make the claim that inasmuch 
as additional Negro officers were not available, and white officers 
would not serve in the same regiment with Negro officers, it was 



DID THE NEGRO SOLDIER GET A SQUARE DEAL/ 433 

necessary to turn over the command entirely to white officers. 
Only in rarely exceptional cases were any of the colored ofifioers 
promoted while overseas. 

In keeping with the prevailing custom at that time of dis- 
crediting Negro officers, desperate efforts were made, it seemed, 
to show the unusual efficiency of Negro soldiers when led by white 
officers, and their inefficiency when led by officers of their own 
race. Negro officers were often charged with "cowardice" in 
spite of demonstrated valor of Negro troops in all the wars of the 
Eepublic. Such a complaint was brought against four Negro 
officers of the 368th Infantiy, who uniformly stated that they re- 
treated only when they found themselves surrounded by barbed- 
wire entanglements with the enemy using machine guns with deadly 
effect, and when they themselves had no wire cutters and other 
implements necessary to extricate them from such a dangerous 
position. They were without maps, without hand grenades, and 
lacked sufficient ammunition. Their Major, a white officer supposed 
to be leading them, was nowhere to be found during the engage- 
ment. Two of the colored Captains, according to Ralph W. Tyler, 
special war correspondent — after they had gone over the top and 
had run into a nest of machine guns — turned back and asked for 
support and got the Third battalion. But they could not get in 
touch with their Major, who had gone to the rear *' somewhere" 
immediately after the engagement got hot, thus preventing com- 
pany commanders from connecting with him to secure orders. The 
Major, however, because of the failure of the engagement, under 
such circumstances, charged the colored officers with cowardice 
and inefficiency. Seemingly as a reward for his shifting the blame 
so successfully, he was a few days thereafter raised to the rank 
of Lieutenant Colonel and given command of a colored regiment. 
Too many Negro officers and soldiers won the Croix de Guerre, 
Distinguished Service Medals or Crosses, etc., to lend any color to 
the charge that Negro officers were inefficient or cowards. 

The Case of the 92nd Division 

In connection with tho organization of the 92nd Division, 
made up entirely of colored units, a certain measure of injustice 



434 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

was involved in tliat the official order creating that Division rec- 
ognized the color line as such, and specifically provided that colored 
men, however capable, were not to be permitted to hold certain 
positions as officers of said Di\'ision. It practically announced 
to them, so far as their military opportunity was conceraed : "Thus 
far shalt thou go, and no farther." The order was as follows: 

WAR DEPARTMENT TELEGRAM. 

Washington, October 26, 1917. 
Commanding Oeneral, 

Camp Fimston, Kansas : 

The Ninety-Second Division (colored), with headquarters at Camp 
Funston, Kansas, will be organized at that place, and Brigadier-General 
C. C. Ballon has been directed to proceed with his authorized aides to that 
place and organize following troops from white officers, who wiU be directed 
to report to him and from colored officers and men who Avill be designated 
by you to report to him; Division Headquarters, including Headquarters 
Troops, Three Hundred Forty-Ninth Machine Gun Battalion, four com- 
panies. Division Trains to include: Three Hundred Seventeenth Head- 
quarters and Military Police, Ammunition Train, Supply Motor Trahi, 
Engineer Train and Sanitary Train. Following officers of Division wiU he 
white: All officers of general and Field rank, such medical officers and 
veterinarians as the Surgeon-General may designate, all officers attached 
to Division Headquarters, except the Lieutenants of the Headquarters 
Troop, all Regimental Adjutants, Supply Officers, commanding officers of 
Headquarters Companies and of Engineer Train, Adjutants of Train Head- 
quarters, and Ammunition Trains and Supply Officers of Sanitary Train, 
all captains of the Field Artillery Brigade and Engineer Regiment and aides 
to Brigade Commanders. You will transfer to the Ninety-Second Division 
the necessary colored officers and men to organize the units indicated above. 

(Signed) McCvin, 
(Adjutant-General.) 

First Lieutenant T. T. Thompson, of Houston, Texas, went 
up against this rule in his efforts to be appointed a Captain in 
the Adjutant General's Department, and to be assigned as Division 
Personnel Officer of the 92Dd Division; although admittedly com- 
petent and strongly recommended by Major General C. C. Ballon, 
Commander of that Division — simply because he was a colored man 
whose promotion was specifically prohibited by the "War Department 
telegram which prescriljed that a "white" man should occfupy the 



DID THE NEGRO SOLDIER GET A SQUARE DEAL? 435 

position to which he rightfully aspired, and which position he had 
filled as Acting Personnel Officer practically from the time of the 
organization of the 92nd Division. The following communications 
explain themselves: 

(Exhibit "A") 

Headquarters Ninety-Second Division. 

Camp Funston, Kansas. 

April 30, 1918. 
FROM: Commanding General, 92nd Division. 

TO: The Adjutant General of the Army, Washington, D. C. 

SUBJECT: Appointment of Division Personnel Officer. 

1. It is recommended that First Lieutenant T. T. Thompson, Inf., N. A., 
he appointed a Captain in the Adjutant General's Department and assigned 
to this Division as Assistant-Adjutant to he in charge of the Personnel Section 
as authorized by the Tables of Organization. 

2, This officer lias been in cluirge of the Personnel work of this Dim-sion 
practically fro^n the time of its organization and his work lius been found to 
be thoroughly satisfactory, and his promotion is therefore recommended so 
that he may continue on his present duty with adequate rank. 

(Signed) C. C. Ballou, 

Major-General. 

(Exhibit "B") 

(A competent Negro officer, officially prohibited from promotion in the 

Army, becomes discouraged and asks for an Honorable Discharge.) 

Headquarters Ninety-Second Division 

American Expeditionary Forces 

A. P. 0. 766 

October 21, 1918. 
FROM: T. T. Thompson, 1st Lt. Inf. U. S. A. 

TO : Commanding General, 92nd Division, A. E. F. 

SUBJECT: Discharge. 

1. Application is respectfully made ^:erein for discharge from tlie Mill- 
tary Service of the United States. Reasons for this application may be sum- 
marized by the following notations: 

(a) By S. 0. 82 Hqs. 92d Division, April 25, 1918, I was detailed as 
Acting Division Personnel Officer. 

(b) By announcement of Division Adjutant, the work of the Personnel 
Department was merged into and placed under the head of Statisti- 
cal Officer on arrival of the Division overseas and I was designated 
as an assistant to the Statistical Officer. 



486 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

(c) Under this arrangement other officers were placed in clmrge of the 
work which I had begun, SYSTEMATIZED, AND BUILT UP, 
and I was given a subordinate place. Since tliat time other officers 
have been assigned and detailed to the department and each addi- 
tion lowers me, but has not lessened my work or responsibilities. 

(d) Paragraph 4, G. 0. 100, G. H. Q., A. E. F., June 20, 1918, specifies 
that Personnel officers will also perform the duties laid down as 
functions of Statistical Officers. From which it appears that where 
a Division brings over its Personnel Officer, he is eligible to become 
Statistical Officer (not an assistaiit to Statistical Officer). 

(e) G. O. 60. W. D., June 24, 1918, also contemplates that the Per- 
sonnel Officer under the change of name, becomes the Personnel 
Adjutant. When this order was issued, another officer was desig- 
nated as Personnel Adjutant and I was designated as an assistant. 

2. Without questioning any of the actions above mentioned as to fair- 

ness or wisdom, I have felt that each change has advanced others 
and lowered me and it has discouraged and disheartened me to 
the extent that I cannot work with the same spirit as an officer who 
feels that he is getting a square deal. 

3. No one has ever charged me with inefficiency. As assistant to the 

first Personnel Officer, my work was satisfactory in every respect, 
and when I afterward relieved him, my work continued to be 
satisfactory and was commended by the commanding general of 
the division. 
The only conclusion I hcuve been able to reach is that others are 
placed in charge of the work because I am a Negro, and under the 
plan of organization as promidgated in Memo, dated September 
11, 1918, Headquarters 92nd Division, ineligible to be attached to 
division headquarters. 

4. Under these circumstances, and without having had any experience 

in any other divisional branch of duty, I respectfully ask to be 
discharged. 

(Signed) T. T. Thompson, 
1st Lt. Inf. U. S. A., Assistant Personnel Adjutant. 

(Exhibit ''C") 

(Official Evidence showing how the "color line" in the 

Army decreases the Negro's efficiency.) 

HEADQUARTERS NINETY-SECOND DIVISION 
(Copy) Camp Funston, Kansas. 

Forwarded recommending approval. 



DID THE NEGRO SOLDIER GET A SQUARE DEAL? 437 

Tliis officer (Lieutenant T. T. Thompson) was originally assigned to 
duty as Acting Personnel Officer, in which capacity he did good work, and 
was recommended to he -promoted Captain with a view to being assigned toi 
duty as permanent Personnel Officer. This was disapproved by tJie War De- 
partment on tlie ground that the Personnel Officer shoidd he "white." 

Lieutenant Thompson was continued as an assistant, there being no 
other line of work to ivJiich he was so well adapted. 

The ruling of the War Department made his advancement impossible 
and otJiers passed him as stated in his letter. 

The result has been the discouragement and lessened efficiency of an 
officer of considerable promise, who has much justice on his side in alleging 
race discrimination. 

(Signed) C. C. Ballou, 

Commanding General. 

When Lieutenant Thompson brought his case to the attention 
of the Special Assistant he took up the matter with the War De- 
partment, and received the foUomng reply from the Adjutant 
General's office: 

MEMORANDUM for Mr. Emmett J. Scott, Special Assistant to the Secretary 

of War. 

In compliance with your memorandum request of March 10th, I hav» 
had the record in the case of Lieutenant Toliver T. Thompson carefully ex- 
amined and can find no evidence of the fact that he has been discriminat-ed 
against in any way. 

The instructions of the Secretaiy of War dated October 20, 1917, which 
referred to the organization of the 92d Division require, 

"That the following officers of the division he WHITE: 

(a) All officers of General and Field Rank. 

(b) Such Medical officei-s and Veterinarians as the Surgeon General 
may decide. 

(c) All officers attached to Division Headquarters except the Lieuten- 
ants of the Headquarters Troop. 

(d) All Regimental Adjutants, Supply Officers, Commanding Officers 
of Headquarters Companies and of Engineer Train, Adjutants of 
Train Headquarters and Ammunition Train, and Supply Officers 
of Sanitary Train. 

(e) All Captains of the Field Artillery Brigade and Engineer Regi- 
ments. 

(f) Aides to Brigade Commanders." 



438 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

In view of the above instructions of the Secretary of War dated October 
20, 1917, you will see that the recommendation made on April 30, 1918, for 
the appointment of Lieutenant Thompson as Division Personnel Officer was 
in direct violation of the above quoted orders. For this reason the recom- 
mendation was filed without action. 

(Signed) P. C. Harris, 

The Adjutant General. 
March 12, 1919. 

To further the project of eliminating Negro officers from the 
Army forever, it was reported to the Special Assistant, in a letter 
sent from France by Ealph W. Tyler, the accredited Negro War 
Correspondent of the Committee on Public Information, that 
Colonel Allen J. Greer of the United States Army, 92nd Division, 
had addressed a letter to this effect to Senator Kenneth D. Mc- 
Kellar, in violation of a law which would subject him to court- 
martial. Among other things Colonel Greer was reported as 
writing : 

* ' Now that a reorganization of the Army is in prospect, and as all officers 
of the temporary forces have been asked if they desire to remain in the 
Regular Army, I think / ought to bring a matter to your attention fhat is of 
vital importance not only from a military point of view, hut from tliat which 
all Southerners have. I refer to the question of Negro officers and Negro 
troops. The records of the Division will probably never be given full pub- 
licity, but the bare facta are facts about as follows. We came to France in 
June, were given seven weeks in training area instead of four weeks in train- 
ing area usually allotted, then went to a quiet sector of the front. From there 
we went to the Argonne and, in the offensive starting there on September 26 
(1918) had one regiment in the line, attached to the 38th French Corps. 
'i*hey failed there in all their missions, lay down and sneaked to the rear, until 
they were withdrawn. Thirty of the officers of this regiment alone were 
reported either for cowardice or failure to prevent their men from retreating 
— ^and this against very little opposition. The French and our white field 
officers did all that could possibly have been done; but the troops were im- 
possible. One of our Majors commanding a battalion said: "The men are 
rank cov/ards ; there is no other word for it. During the entire time we have 
been operating, there has never been a single operation conducted bj'' a colored 
officer, where his report did not have to be investigated by some field officer 
to find out what the real facts were. Accuracy and ability to describe facts 
is lacking in all, and most of them are just plain liars in addition." 



DID THE NEGRO SOLDIER GET A SQUARE DEAL? 439 

This manifestly prejudiced statement by Colonel Allen J. 
Greer lias been disproved in toto by men who know of the un- 
questioned valor of Negro troops and the high percentage of 
efficiency obtaining among Negro officers, many of whom have 
been awarded the Croix de Guerre and Distinguished Service 
Medals; it constitutes one of the basest misrepresentations (bom 
of race prejudice, which he openly confesses) that were ever made 
concerning the efficiency and fearlessness of Negro men in the 
United States Army, and is in striking contrast to numerous 
views expressed by other American and by French officers. Colonel 
Greer entirely overlooked numerous citations to Negro men and 
officers of the 92nd Division that he had personally signed as 
Chief of Staff of the 92nd Division. 

The Negro press, as a unit, vigorously resented Colonel Greer's 
insinuation that Negro officers and Negro troops were cowards 
and incompetents, and, in the interest of national unity and 
national security, hammered away at injustice and racial dis- 
crimination wherever it w^as showTi. Tyjiical of the attitude of 
the Negro press, is the following editorial comment from the 
facile pen of that veteran Negro journalist, John Mitchell, editor 
of T}ie Richmond (Va.) Planet: 

** Complaint is not made of the hardships to which our colored 
troops were subjected, but on account of discriminations made on 
account of race and color. They went over there to take a soldier's 
fare but they did not go over there to feel the pangs of American 
race prejudice in the midst of a people who made no discrimination 
on account of race or color.'* 

The following statement of the Negro officers' case comes from 
Colonel Charles Young, a graduate of West Point, who reached 
the highest rank ever held by a Negro in the United States Army. 

Colonel Young's Statement 
''The black officer feels that there was a prejudgment against 
him at the outset, and that neariy every move that has been made 
was for the purpose of bolstering up his prejudgment and dis- 
crediting him in the eyes of the world and the men whom he was 
to lead and will lead in the future. 



440 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

*< Unpatriotic and unwarranted statements do no good and 
lull the country to sleep, and throw it off its guard while the 
effects of these statements are causing just rankling in the breasts 
of the Negro people who have had a new vision. 

*'The Negro officers know the psychology of their own race 
and also of the white race; but it is to be feared the latter will 
never know the mind and motive forces of the Negro if he imagines 
that this group has not had a new birth in America, whose language 
it speaks, whose thought it thinks for its own betterment, and 
whose ideals, both social, political and economic, it emulates." 

Under such circumstances, therefore, with the Hun as an 
enemy in front and certain American army officials utilizing race 
prejudice as a destructive agency against him in the rear, the 
Negro officer seriously suffered during the World War, and upon 
the return from overseas of the regiments formerly commanded 
by Negroes, it was most disappointing to the colored people in 
the various cities of this country where parades were held, to see 
black men led by white officers, their colored officers in many cases 
having been removed. 

Race Discrimination Overseas 

In keeping with this policy, there were many instances of 
color discrimination in France. On one occasion, after an order 
had been issued to the effect that certain Negro troops should bo 
carried on the battleship ''Virginia/' the executive officer requested 
the Admiral to have these troops removed on the ground that no 
colored troops had ever traveled on hoard a United States battle- 
ship. The Negroes were accordingly removed to a tug and sub- 
jected to unusual hardships in being brought back to port. In 
certain places where it was sometimes necessary for officers of 
both races belonging to the American Expeditionary Forces to 
eat together, peculiar provisions were made so as to have Negro 
officers report to certain quarters, or sections of the same mess- 
room, inasmuch as white officers refused to sit at mess with them. 
There is ample evidence to show that in most cases the Negro 
officers had inferior accommodations. On one occasion, in pro- 
viding for the reception of General John Pershing, the Command- 
ing Officer of the American Expeditionary Forces, at one of the 



DID THE NEGRO SOLDIER GET A SQUARE DEAL? 441 

forwarding camps in France, the order was given that "all troops 
possible (except colored) should be under arms;" colored troops, 
who were not at work, were to be in their quarters or in their tents, 
according to the command of Brigadier General Longan. 

This order, however, was later revoked, after a firm protest 
by Negi'o officers and men, and, as a result, colored troops did 
appear ** under arms'* in General Pershing's review. 

With reference to conditions existing among Negro soldiers 
overseas and to certain discriminations which were attempted and 
practiced against them. Lieutenant Charles S. Parker, of Spokane, 
Washington, connected with, the 366th Infantry, and who was the 
only Negro who served as a Regimental Adjutant, in the 92nd 
Division, made the following statement: 

**At Brest, France, a Memorandum was issued by the Com- 
mander of Zone Five, prescribing nvess hours for colored officers 
(a) one hour earlier than the usual hour for breakfast; (b) one 
hour later for the mid-day meal, and (c) one hour later for the 
supper meal — thus requiring colored soldiers to get up on^ hour 
earlier in the morning for their breakfast and to wait until after 
the ivhite officers had eaten at the other two meals. Before pub- 
lishing the order, I took up the matter with my Colonel, stated 
the injustice of the proposed arrangement, and he approved of 
my taking the matter up with the Company Headquarters, at 
which point I had the order revoked. Thus it was that the order 
indicating separate hours for Negro officers and white officers to 
eat, was never published to our command, though a number of 
the colored officers had positive knowledge of its existence. Like- 
wise, in the case of the Order directing all troops, except colored 
troops, to appear in General Pershing's review 'under arms' — 
that order, like other attempted discriminations, was only revoked 
after an earnest protest had been made by colored officers. Also 
at Brest, France, an order was issued, directing that all Negro 
orderlies from colored units, who were stationed at Headquarters, 
should use the open latrines which were unsheltered and which 
made it very disagreeable during rainy weather, while orderlies 
from white units, also stationed at Headquarters, were permitted 
to use the sheltered latrines. When this matter was taken up and 



442 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

properly protested against, the order was revoked as being a 
'mistake.' 

''The revocation of these orders did much toward keeping 
down friction between the races in the American army overseas, 
and I attribute their cancellation not to any particular ability on 
my part as a Negro Eegimental Adjutant, but to the fact that my 
position put me in close contact with the white officers conmianding 
troops and I was familiar with and could clearly represent to 
them the feelings and requirements of colored officers and colored 
men. This only emphasises in my mind the wisdom and justice of 
appointing Negro Regimental Adjutants and Negro officers for all 
Negro troops, for they and they alone, can properly interpret the 
sentiments and needs of Negro soldiers and help maintain the 
highest possible morale among them." 

The humiliation of the Negro in France, however, was not 
restricted to army circles. Military staff officers seemed to be 
firm in the conviction that it was necessary to prejudice the minds 
of the French people against the Negroes in order that they might 
be held down to the same status they had in the United States. 
General Ervin, who succeeded General Ballou in the command of 
the 92nd Division — complying with the wishes of his co-workers — 
issued among other regulations, Order No. 40 — a proclamation that 
Negroes should not speak with or to French women. Carrying 
out this order the Military Police overseas undertook to arrest 
Negroes found talking to French women while the white privates 
and officers were not m.olested. This led to a serious misunder- 
standing between the French and the Americans and to a number 
of brawls in which the white and black soldiers participated. In 
addition to orders issued designed to prevent Negro soldiers over- 
seas from coming into social contact with French civilians, French 
officers were also advised not to present any semblance of mixing 
socially with Negro officers, especially not to eat with them, and 
also not to praise the NegTo in the presence of white Americans 
for any military action in which he participated. 

For instance, — in order to make such a program as that of 
General Ervin's more successful, biased Americans succeeded in 
having issued, on August 7, 1918, from General Pershing's head- 
quarters, through the military mission stationed with the Amer- 



DID THE NEGRO SOLDIER GET A SQUARE DEAL? 443 

ican army, certain secret information concerning black American 
troops. This document began with the observation that "it is 
important for French officers in command of black American troops 
to have an idea as to the position occupied by the race in tJie United 
States." The Negroes were referred to as a ** menace of degen- 
eracy which had to be prevented by the gulf established between 
the two races," and especially so ** because of the fact that they 
were given to the loathsome vice of criminally assaulting women, 
as evidenced by the record," they said, "they had already made in 
France." The French were, therefore, called upon "not to treat 
the Negroes with familiarity and indulgence which are matters of 
grievoiis concern to Americans and an affront to their national 
policy." The Americans, it continued, are afraid that the blacks 
might thereby be inspired writh umdesirahle aspirations. It was 
carefully explained that although the black man as a citizen of the 
United States is regarded by the whites as inferior, with whom 
relations of business and service only are possible, that the black 
is noted for his want of intelligence, lack of discretion, and lack 
of civic and professional conscience. The French army then was 
advised to prevent the rise of any pronounced degree of intimacy 
between French officers and black officers, not to eat tvith them, not 
to shake hands or seek to talk or meet with them outside of the 
requirements of military service. They were asked also not to 
commend too highly the black American troops in the presence of 
white Americans. Although it is all right to recognize the good 
qualities and services of black Americans, it must be done in 
moderate terms, strictly in keeping with the truth. 

French officers and French civilians, as a rule, could not under- 
stand why the black soldiers should not be treated identically as 
white American soldiers; when French officers were alone Arith 
Negro officers, the latter were treated with the utmost friendliness 
and consideration, and it was only when in the presence of Amer- 
ican officers that they reluctantly observed the official order, inspired 
by race prejudice, which positively forbade them from fraternizing 
with Negro soldiers and officers. Thus it was that race prejudice 
in the Army was carried overseas — to a land ivhere disc rim innt ions 
on account of race or color are neither practiced nor encouraged — 
to a land where freedom, liberty, and equality are truly exemplified. 



444 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

When reports began to come back from France, in divers and 
sundry ways— alleging unfair treatment of colored soldiers, the 
Special Assistant inmiediately assembled these complaints and 
brought them to the attention of the proper officials in the War 
Department, including the Military Intelligence Bureau. The Mili- 
tary Intelligence officers ferreted out a number of these complaints, 
although some of them were contained in anonymous communica- 
tions. While some of them were found to be justifiable and worthy 
of corrections, others were found to represent only the exaggerated 
statement of .some individual soldier whose own indiscretion or 
violation of military law and regulations had brought upon him 
the punishment or hardships concerning which he complained. 
Determined to do his utmost to find out the real facts regarding 
conditions among Negro soldiers in France, and realizing the 
serious effect that a continuance of such complaints would have 
upon the morale of colored soldiers and colored Americans gener- 
ally, the author made the following recommendation to the Com- 
mittee on Public Information : 

WAH DEPARTMENT, 

Washington. 

August 10, 1918. 
Mr. George Creel, Chairman, 

Committee on Public Information, 
No. 10 Jackson Place, N, W,, 
Washington, D. C. 

Dear Mr. Creel : 

Recently in a conference with the Military Intelligence Bureau, the mat- 
ter was discussed of having two or three representative colored men go to 
France for the purpose of making an investigation of the facts with respect 
to several important matters indicated herein. 

(1) A military man who is qucUfied to make a free and fuU investigation 
of tJie general treaiynent being accorded colored troops on the French and, 
other fronts. There has been, and still continues, considerabU propaganda 
and rutnor to the effect that colored soldiers are being mistreated and dis- 
crimmated against. Letters have come to the office of the Secretary of War 
and to me, the same being forwarded by United States Senators in some 
instances to the War Department, conveying these complaints. The in- 
formation which wovdd be secured first-hand by the military man suggested 
would be (under such direction as you might approve) conveyed to the Negro 



DID THE NEGRO SOLDIER GET A SQUARE DEAL? 445 

people of the United States through the Negro newspapers, public meetings, 
public, speakers, committee of one hundred of the Public Speaking Division, 
etc. 

(2) The other representatives, not necessarily military men, but of 
sound judgment, capable of studying the facts and co-operating with the 
military representative, above referred to, in making a full report of existing 
conditions abroad with respect to colored men at the front, as well as thase 
behind the lines (referring to service battalions, stevedore regiments, etc.). 

The joint testimony of these men would satisfactorily establish the facts 
and enable us to do a good piece of work in dispasing of these damaging 
rumors which are being continually circulated. * * * 

Tliere is more depressed moral-e among tlie colored people ilian is gen- 
erally supposed, due to stories of unfair treatment of colored men in various 
camps in America as well as abroad. Under the circumstances, I am quite 
seriously of the opinion that such a commission as herein suggested would 
accomplish very great good. 

An interview with you, at your convenience, would be very much appre- 
ciated. Will you kindly let me hear from you directly or tlirough Mr. Byoir. 

Sincerely yours, 

(Signed) Emmett J. Scott, 
WHD Ofaee of the Secretary of War. 

Conditions in the Labor Battalions 

In the Labor Battalions sent abroad were impressed many 
Negroes who went to the front vnth the hope of bearing amis, 
but, in conformity with the idea prevailing in some sections of 
making the Negro a laborer only — thousands of Negro soldiers 
who had been drilled for service at the front were, for various 
excuses, reduced and placed in these Labor Battalions. Speaking 
of the conditions at one camp a Negro officer reported: ''The 
conditions are simply awful; mud everywhere, leaky tents and 
barracks and lack of sufficient food and proper toilets. The men 
are worked hard, some at night and others in the day, rain or 
shine. As a consequence there are quite a number of sick men 
in our organization." The Fifteenth Regiment of New York, for 
example, w^as made to render such service for a time, but waa 
finally placed in a somewhat quiet sector where it was supposed 
they would not have to engage in hard military fighting. It turned 
out, however, that the Germans, in tlioir advance, attacked this 
point, making it necessary for the Old Fifteenth to defend ih% 



446 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

line, and history shows that these blach men designed to play 
the inconspicuous role of laborers in the war, won for thetnselves 
the greatest honor of the war in that they ivere the first regiment 
summoned as a whole for citation hy the French Government be- 
cause of the valor they displayed upon the battlefield. Thus, in 
military as well as in civil life — out of trials and hardships there 
often flow counterbalancing benefits and unexpected opportunities 
for advancement. 

After the signing of the Armistice, it was repeatedly stated 
in the Negro press and in numerous letters from soldiers and others 
received at Washington, that Reserve Labor Battalions and similar 
military units composed of colored men were being kept in the 
Army out of proportion to the number of white troops that were 
discharged in various camps through the country. Using Newport 
News as a typical case, and as related by a Director of Colored 
Work in close touch with the situation, this officer stated: *'The 
causes of unrest as heard from the men themselves are : First : 
The unfair type of white officers. The commanding officer is very 
popular with the men, but I have heard no soldier speak a good 
word for the majority of officers on his staff. Second : They resent 
being kept in the Army for the purpose of doing all kinds of menial 
work every day of the week for the good of this section of the 
country, which they hate with a holy hate. They say that the war 
is over and why should they be kept at work on something that 
does not pertain to war; that they enlisted in the Army to defeat 
Germany and now that Germany is defeated, their job is done and 
they are anxious to get back to their families and their normal 
activities. They are the two fundamental causes of unrest. The 
low morale is something appalling; the men hang around in groups 
brooding and grumbling. They are beginning to look upon the 
uniforms as emblems of slavery. You can readily see where this 
condition of mind is leading to. It strikes me that seeds of anarchy 
are being planted. * * * There is but one remedy and that is 
to demobilize them. To keep these men here in their present state 
of mind means two things — it is preparing the way for serious dis- 
turbances at this particular point; and second, it is implanting a 
bitterness in the souls of these men that will stay with them as 
long as life lasts. They will leave here with their patriotism 



DID THE NEGRO SOLDIER GET A SQUARE DEAL? 447 

destroyed, with a stronger prejudice against the white race, and 
contempt for the flag itself. For the sake of these men's futures, 
if for nothing else, they ought to be sent away. The greatest in- 
justice that can be done them is to continue to hold them and later 
send them back to their homes with an embittered spirit." 

Attitude Toward Colored Medical Officers 

Much dissatisfaction arose and was voiced in the Negro press 
and elsewhere concerning the seeming disinclination on the part of 
the Surgeon General's office to commission and utilize an adequate 
number of colored medical officers to minister to the physical needs 
of the 400,000 Negroes who seized in the Army. Still more resent- 
ment was felt and expressed by reason of the fact that a large 
number of Negro physicians, surgeons and dentists were not per- 
mitted to serve the Government in their professional capacities, 
but were drafted into service as privates, while many white 
physicians, surgeons, and dentists served, in many instances, in 
connection with Negro troops. This was considered not only a 
denial of their right to serve as medical officers at least in con- 
nection with men of their own race, but was also regarded as an 
unwarranted reflection upon their professional ability. Colored 
Medical Societies all over the country protested against the mani- 
fest policy of the Government not to commission an adequate num- 
ber of colored medical officers as well as against the idea of per- 
mitting white physicians to sei-ve in connection with colored units, 
and compelling many Negro physicians to serve as ''privates." 
Eepeated efforts were made by the author to bring about the in- 
creased utilization of colored medical officers, but the effort was 
persistently blocked by the Surgeon General's office, and in response 
to numerous Memoranda sent to that office in behalf of Ncgi*o 
physicians and surgeons, the Special Assistant almost invariably 
received the following reply: ''At the present time there are no 
vacancies in the Medical Corps to which colored medical officers 
can be assigned, and until such vacancies occur, or additional 
divisions of colored troops are organized, it is not the intention of 
the Department to recommend the appointment of additional colored 
medical officers." At the same time these replies were received, 
white medical officers were serving in connection with a number 



448 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

of stevedore regiments, labor battalions and other non-combatant 
units composed of colored men, while competent colored physicians 
were serving as privates in the Army — some of them in work 
battalions. Was this a ''square deal" in the matter of colored 
medical officers? A rightful quota of them was, by no means, 
commissioned and utilized. 

Attitude Toward Colored Nurses 

The situation with regard to colored nurses was even more 
difficult of adjustment and far less satisfactorily handled. In the 
whole matter of trying to have colored nurses accepted in the Army 
for the purpose of nursing sick and wounded soldiers — especially 
those of their own race who uniformly preferred colored nurses — 
the whole situation (as will be noted in the correspondence which 
follows) resolved itself into a matter of ''passing the buck" from 
the Surgeon General's office to the American Red Cross, and from 
the Red Cross Society to the Surgeon General's office. There was a 
manifest disinclination to utilize colored nurses, and not because 
they were not competent. Thus racial discrimination triumphed 
agfain, and although a few colored nurses were assigned to half 
a dozen or more camps, practically none of them were sent over- 
seas to nurse and minister to the fighting men of their own race. 
"Was this a "square deal" either for the Negro soldier or for the 
scores of competent nurses all over the country who tendered their 
services to the Government? The appended correspondence re- 
veals the "battledore and shuttlecock" policy which was used in 
shifting the blame for the non-assignment of colored nurses. 

February 14, 1918. 
Referring to your memorandum of February 12th, relative to tlie appoint- 
ment and training of colored nurses for colored soldiers, at the present time 
cx)lored nurses me not being accepted for service in tlie Army Nurse Corps, 
as there are no separate quarters available for tJiem, and it is not deemed 
advisable to assign wliite and colored nurses to tlie same posts. 

Colored nurses who have applied for admission to the Corps are advised 
to apply to the American Red Cross, as should they be used later in the Army 
hospital of this country, tliey mil, in all probability, he selected from tJie 
Bed Cross li^t. 

(Signed) W. C. Gorgas, 
Surgeon General, U. S. Army. 



DID THE NEGRO S50LDIER GET A SQUARE DEAL? 449 

It will be noted in the above communication that colored 
nurses were directed to ''apply to the American Red Cross," and 
in the following communication it is stated, by the Director of the 
Red Cross Department of Nursing, that the utilization or assign- 
ment of colored nurses "after all is a matter for the Surgeon 
General to decide rather than our office." 

THE AMERICAN RED CROSS 

National Headquarters, 

"Washington, D. C. 

January 9th, 1918. 
Mr. John M. Glenn, General Director, 
Russell Sage Foundation. 
New York City. 
My Dear Sir: 

The RED CROSS is entirely willing to enroll colored nurses whenever 
there is an opportunity for their service in military hospitals. We com- 
municated with the superintendents of training schools admitting colored 
pupils, asking them to submit the names of graduates whom they would 
recommend for Red Cross nurses. 

Several attempts have been made to organize a Base Hospital Unit com- 
posed of colored nurses only, and we hope to do this in connection with the 
Lincoln Hospital in New York and with the Freedmen's Hospital, in Wash- 
ington. A cantonment for colored troops was originally planned at Des 
Moines, and we hoped to utilize such a base hospital unit in connection with 
this cantonment. The colored soldiers were later distributed throughout the 
cantonments, and there were practical difficulties in the way of assigning the 
colored nurses to duty with the white nurses. 

The Surgeon General's office has been informed that we have such lists 
available, and that these nurses can be quickly enrolled, whenever there is a 
possibility of their assignment to duty. 

There has never been any question in regard to our \\nllingness to enroll 
jcolored nurses and the only question, is Jioic hesf to assiffn tlieni to duty, 
ivliich, after all is a matter for the Surgeoi} General to decide, ratlier tJwn our 
office. 

This matter was fully discussed by the National Committee on Red Cross 
Nursing Service in the very beginning of the war, and they unanimously 
agreed that whenever colored nurses could be used, they should be enrolled on 
exactly the same status as white nurses. It does not seem desirable, however, 
to enroll them without reference to their color. 



450 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

I am glad of the opportunity to send you this explanation. 

Yours very truly, 

(Signed) Jane A. Delano, 
Director, Department of Nursing. 

In view of the conflicting circumstances set forth above with 
reference to colored nurses in the Army, the Special Assistant 
made an earnest effort to cure the situation, as the following 
Memorandum will show; 

February 28, 1918. 

MEMORANDUM FOR DEAN F. P. KEFPEL, 
Office of the Secretary of War, 
My Dear Dean Keppel : 

I confess my inability to altogether understand the situation with refer- 
ence to the utilization of colored nurses during the present war, 

ATTITUDE OP THE BED CROSS ORGANIZATION. 

Let me put it before you in this way : The Red Cross organization has 
been industrioiisly writing letters to the effect thai they are perfectly willing 
to enroll colored nurses, as will be noted in the following extract taken from 
a letter written by the Director of the Department of Nursing under date of 
January 9, 1918 : 

"There has never been any question in regard to our willingness to 
enroll colored nurses and the only question is how best to assign them to 
duty, which, after aUis a matter for the Surgeon General to decide rather 
than our o-flice. 

"This matter was fully discussed by the National Committee on 
Red Cross Nursing Service in the very beginning of the war, and they 
imanimously agreed that whenever colored nurses could be used, they 
should be enrolled on exactly the same status as white nurses. It does 
not seem desirable, however, to enroll them without reference to their 
color." 

This seems to pass the matter, as you will note, to the Surgeon General. 

ATTITUDE OP THE SURGEON GENERAL. 

The Surgeon OeTteraVs attitude is reflected in his letter of February 14, 
1918, and is stated as follows : 

"Referring to your memorandum of February 12th relative to the 
appointment and training of colored nurses for colored soldiers, at the 
present time colored nurses are not hevng accepted for service in the 
Army Nurse Corps as there are no separate quarters available for them, 
and it is not deemed advisable to assign white and colored nurses to the 
same posts." 



DID THE NEGRO SOLDIER GET A SQUARE DEAL? 451 

"Colored nurses who have applied for admission to the Corps are 
advised to apply to the American Red Cross for enrollment, as should 
they be used later in the army hospitals of this country, they will, in all 
probability, be selected from the Red Cross list." 

Prom the above, it will be seen that the whole matter of utilizing colored 
nurses is still very much "up in the air." 

The upshot of the whole matter is that, while there are thousands of 
colored men who have been called to the colors as soldiers, no colored nurses 
have been admitted to the service although quite a number have enrolled 
with the Red Cross organization as suggested, and they, together with 
many more well-trained, competent, and registered nurses are ready and 
willing to look after sick and wounded soldiers who are now and soon will 
be facing shot and shell upon battlefields abroad. 

I would most earnestly recommend that some satisfactory way be found 
ithat will offer to colored nurses in the Army Nurse Corps and in the Red 
Cross organization the same opportunity for serving sick and wounded 
soldiers as has been so wisely and timely provided for white nurses. 

Waiving all discussion as to the matter of assigning white and colored 
nurses to the same posts or quarters, it is difficult for me to understand 
rwhy some colored nurses have not been given an opportunity to serve. 

This vexing question is being put to me almost daily by colored news- 
paper editors, colored physicians, surgeons, etc., who are constantly bom- 
barding my sector of the War Department, inquiring what has been done, 
and urging that something should be done in the direction of utilizing pro- 
fessionally trained and efficient colored nurses. 

I recognize the "problems," but can't they be solved? 

(Signed) Emmett J. Scott, 
"WHD Special Assistant. 

Discriminations in the Government Service 

While Negro soldiers were fighting overseas in defense of 
their country, race prejudice was denying to many members of 
their families and dependents at home the chance of earning a 
livelihood in the Government service in Washington and else- 
where. Hundreds of instances can he cited where Negroes, even 
after qualifying as eligibles by successfully passing civil service 
examinations for various positions in the Government service, 
were absolutely "turned down" and denied appointment — in many 
cases after they had been definitely certified for appointment by 
the U. S. Civil Service Commission and had journeyed long dis- 



452 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

tanoes from their home cities to Washington in response to notices 
by mail or telegrams announcing their appointment. This was 
not only a source of disappointment and chagrin, as well as finan- 
cial loss, to the individual Negro applicant, but the widespread 
prevalence of such an unjust policy constituted a serious menace 
to the morale of colored Americans generally, who felt and knew 
that in this very vital respect, namely, the opportunity to earn a 
living after proving one's self fully qualified, THEIE RACE WAS 
NOT GETTING A ''SQUARE DEAL." It placed the Government 
in the attitude of '^draiving the color line" in the matter of em- 
ployment, which was never contemplated by the enactment of the 
Civil Service law. The following letter received by the author 
from Mr. Archibald H. Grimke, a member of the Executive Com- 
mittee of the Washington Branch of the National Association for 
the Advancement of Colored People, indicates the state of feeling 
existing among colored Americans in this respect: 

THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF 

COLORED PEOPLE 

Washington, D. C, September 17, 1918. 

Dr. Emmett J. Scott, 

Special Assistant to the Secretary of War, 
War Department. 

My dear Mr. Scott: 

I find in almost all Departments of the Government discriminations 
against colored applicants for clerkships. I will name the following where 
this discrimination seems to flourish, viz : The Quartermaster 's Bureau, the 
Ordnance Bureau, the Adjutant General's Office, the War Risk Bureau, 
the U. S. Shipping Board, the Civihan Personnel Division of the War De- 
partment, the Food and Animal Industry Bureau, the U. S. Employment 
Bureau. 

I name these merely because I have had more to do with these in behalf 
of colored applicants for clerkships, but these unfortunate American citi- 
zens are up against it hard all along the line of Government where they 
come into competition with white applicants for the same jobs. I hope that 
you with others may find some cure for this evil. 

Gratefully yours, 

(Signed) Archibald H. Grimke, 

President, Local Branch. 



DID THE NEGRO SOLDIER GET A SQUARE DEAL? 453 

In a number of instances the Special Assistant was successful 
in having the rights of Negro applicants upheld, but in the large 
majority of cases devious ways were found to sidestep the civil 
service law. True it was that Negroes in considerable number were 
employed in various offices and branches of the government service, 
but even then, in most instances, they were segregated or **Jim 
Crow-ed" and unnecessary indignities were visited upon them. 
While full credit is given to the number of Negroes who were 
appointed to and who rightfully held Government positions during 
the war, the fact still remains, AND A LESSON WHICH SHOUTED 
BE LEAENED FROM, AND APPLIED AFTER THE WAR, that 
it is un-American, inconsistent, unjust, and destructive of a healthy 
morale for the Government, especially, to discriminate against any 
group of citizens simply and solely on account of their race or color. 

False Impressions and Evidences of Fair Play 

It is wrong to assume, because the Negro soldier suffered many 
hardships during the war, and was the victim of various forms 
of racial discrimination, that he was the only one who suffered 
and it is manifestly unfair to make a wholesale condemnation of 
Army and Government of&cials, many of whom sympathized with 
his position and were actively working for his welfare. ^Tiite 
soldiers and white officers suffered many of the hardships of war 
the same as Negroes did, and many were the complaints and 
grievances that were registered by them at the War Department. 
^A^iile they were exempted from many of the racial discriminations 
hereinabove recited, nevertheless the kind of treatment they re- 
ceived was largely dependent upon the character and temperament 
of the superior officer under whom they served. 

It would be wholly unfair to the Secretary of War, to his 
Assistants, to many members of his Staff, to certain officials of the 
War Department and to a number of white officers in command 
of Negro troops, if it were not specifically stated that, on numerous 
occasions, impelled by a high sense of justice, they actively indi- 
cated their earnest desire to give the Negro soldier .*'a square 
deal," and it was their consistent policy to rectify, as far as pos- 
sible, all complaints that were in their power to remedy. It is 
easy to substantiate the fact that, as a rule, the "men higher up" 



454 ' SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

in Army circles were disposed to be fair and just in their attitude 
toward the Negro soldier. 

The Secretary of War is to be especially commended upon 
his willingness at all times to listen to the pleas of the Special 
Assistant on behalf of Negro soldiers and to any other matter 
calculated to affect the morale of colored Americans generally. 
Not only did he sympathetically listen, but he actively sought in 
many ways to remedy the conditions concerning which complaints 
were made. Unfortunately, however, in a number of instances the 
Secretary of War could not give his personal attention to every 
complaint and had to deal with ''human instrumentalities" in 
bringing things to pass, and ofttimes those ''human instrumen- 
talities," that were expected to, and relied upon to carry out the 
letter and spirit of his purposes, did not synchronize with his own 
high ideals of justice and fair play, and, therefore, in some in- 
stances the desired result was not obtained. 

No set of men, in my opinion, could have been fairer in their 
general attitude toward the Negro people than were those connected 
with the Office of the Secretary of War. Aside from the splendid 
spirit of fair play shown by Secretary Baker and the Assistant 
Secretaries of War, his private secretaries, Mr. Ralph A. Hayes, 
and Mr. Stanley King, aided in many ways in securing prompt 
consideration and correction of numerous complaints and griev- 
ances. The office of Dr. F. P. Keppel, Third Assistant Secretary 
of War, was especially charged with the duty of looking after 
many complaints and matters of vital concern to colored soldiers 
and colored Americans generally, and not only did he manifest a 
keen interest in their welfare but, in many cases, was successful 
in translating that interest into remedial action. 

In all dealings with the Provost Marshal General ^s Office, 
looking after the interests of Negro men who were drafted into the 
Army, the Special Assistant found in every case a disposition to 
thoroughly investigate such grievances and to carefully consider 
such appeals as were presented. The Provost Marshal General's 
Office carefully investigated and furnished to him, as Special 
Assistant to the Secretary of War, full and complete reports in 
each and every complaint or case referred to it for attention, in- 
volving discriminations, race prejudice^ erroneous classification of 



DID THE NEGRO SOLDIER GET A SQUARE DEAL? 465 

draftees, etc., and rectified such complaints wherever it was found, 
upon investigation, that there was just ground for the same. 
Especially in the matter of applying and carrying out the Selective 
Service Regulations, the Provost Marshal General's office kept a 
watchful eye upon certain local exemption boards which seemed 
disinclined to treat Negro draftees on the same basis as other 
Americans subject to the draft law. It is an actual fact that in a 
number of instances where flagrant violations occurred in the 
application of the Draft Law to Negro men in certain sections of 
the country, local exemption boards were removed bodily and new 
boards were appoint to supplant them. In several instances these 
new boards so appointed were ordered by the Provost Marshal 
General to reclassify all colored men who had been unlawfully con- 
scripted into the Army or who had been wrongly classified; as a 
result of this action, hundreds of colored men had their complaints 
remedied and were properly classified. Of course, there were a 
number of such worthy cases that were neither presented to my 
office, nor to the office of the Provost Marshal General. 

Numbers of white Commanding Officers displayed a most 
friendly and sympathetic attitude toward Negro soldiers and 
Negro officers and gave them opportunities to demonstrate their 
efficiency and to earn promotions. 

With regard to overseas complaints, as well as complaints 
emanating from camps at home, it seems not to have been gen- 
erally known that in the recent war, where millions of men were 
called to serve in the American Army, it was not possible for the 
Secretary of War or any other one official to read all of the 
complaints and grievances even if they had been presented. The 
fact that no one person could administer all of the affairs of such 
an immense Army was the reason why all of the camps, both home 
and abroad, were ''decentralized,'^ that is to say, the Camp Com- 
manders at home, and General Pershing abroad were practically 
supreme in their o^vn military bailiwick, and exercised full charge 
over the handling and settling of all such complaints. In previous 
wars, involving only a few hundred thousand men, complaints 
were usually appealable to, and handled by one central authority, 
namely the War Department at Washington. It can, therefore, be 
readily understood that the settlement of complaints made by 



456 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

soldiers, whether black or white, depended almost wholly upon 
the character of officers under whom they served. 

Not only were about 1,200 Negroes commissioned as Army 
officers, and thousands of Negro soldiers furnished educational 
opportunities in connection with Vocational Detachments and 
Students' Army Training Corps located at 18 or 20 of the leading 
colored institutions of the country, thus showing some regard to 
their mental qualifications and special adaptabilities, but a number 
of other signal honors were conferred upon Negro soldiers and 
Negro officers. For instance, it is not generally known that Camp 
Alexander, at Newport News, Virginia, was so natned in honor of a 
Negro officer who has served in the Army of the United States. 
Following is a copy of the Official Order conferring that honor: 

HEADQUARTERS, PORT OF IIMBARKATION 

Newport News, Virginia 

General Orders No. 294 

Au^st 15, 1918. 
The Stevedore Cantonment and the Labor Encampments in the vicin- 
ity of North Newport News will hereafter be known collectively as CAMP 
ALEXANDER, Newport News, Virginia. 

The above designation is in honor of the late Lieutenant John H. Alex- 
ander, 9th V. S. Cavalry, a colored graduate of the United States military 
academy, who served from the time of his graduation until his death as an 
officer of the army. A man of ability, attainments and energy, who was a 
credit to himself, to his race and to the service. 

By command of Brigadier-General Grote Hutcheson. 

(Signed) Daniel Van Voorhis, 
Official: Colonel, General Staff, 

C. W. Bell, Chief of Staff. 

Colonel, Adjutant General, 
Adjutant. 

The Chief of Staff, General Peyton C. March, the Military 
Intelligence Bureau, of which General Marlborough Churchill was 
the directing head, and the morale section of the office of the Chief 
of Staff, of which General E. L. Munson was in charge,— all deserve 
much credit for the effective manner in which they handled the 
numerous complaints of Negro soldiers, Negro officers, and 
civilians, that were referred to them for attention by my office and 



DID THE NEGRO SOLDIER GET A SQUARE DEAL? 457 

which reached them from various other sources. Scores of such 
complfiinte were ferreted out by them and, while the methods 
employed to cure the evils complained of were necessarily secret 
and confidential, they were vitally helpful in remedying a number 
of conditions tending to depress the morale of colored soldiers and 
colored Americans generally. After taking definite steps to im- 
prove conditions among Negro soldiers at Camp Alexander, Va., 
the Office of the Cliief of Staff, Military Intelligence Branch, wrote : 

February 7, 1919. 
Dear Mr. Scott: 

Information has come to this office that the situaticm at Camp Alex- 
ander has greatly improved during the past few weeks. 

An improvement hotli in discipline and morale has been noted. TTie 
instituting of military drill seems to Jiave had a good effect in the labor 
battalions, where the men had previmisly received no military training. 

The men seem to feel that they are being treated as soldiers, and they 
begin to exhibit soldierly qualities in their deportment and appearance. 

Also in a Memorandum, under date of February 18, 1919, 
addressed to the Special Assistant by E. L. Munson, Chief of the 
Morale Branch, the follo\sing observation was made: 

**One change which proved very helpful to the morale, was the 
transfer of a large number of unsatisfactory non^commiss^ioned 
officers who were replaced by colored non-commissio7ied officers 
selected in their oivn organizations.^' 

Major J. E. Spingarn, Captain J. E. Cutler, and others con- 
nected with the Military Intelligence branches of the Government 
made diligent effort to find out the facts in every case where com- 
plaint was made. They, together with many officials of the TVar 
Department, seemed to realize the fact tJiaf, like the white man, 
the black man is intensely human; tJiat he thrives when his good 
ivorhs and worth are recognized and appreciated, and droops and 
units when tliey are disparaged and condemned. 

ThurS it appears that ivhile the Negro was, in many instan<!es, 
the victim of racial discrimin-aUon and injustice in tim-e of war, 
yet — by his demonstrated loyalty, valor, and efficiency in practically 
every branch of military service (to some of which he was reluc- 
tantly admitted), he has proved his right to be granted a fuU-er 
measure of justice, respect, opportunity, and fair play in time of 
p€a<;el 



CHAPTER XXXI 

WHAT THE NEGRO GOT OUT OF THE WAR 

A Keener Sense of His Rights and Privileges as a Citizen of the 
United States — The Attitvde of the South — Returning Negro 
Soldiers and Conditions in the North — The Attitude of Organized 
Labor — Instances of Discrimination — The Black Man and His 
Claims to Equal Treatment. 

What the Negro should get out of the war ought to be deter- 
mined largely by what he put into it. Practically all colored leaders 
of consequence felt that in spite of the wrongs the race had from 
time immemorial suffered every member of the race should be loyal. 
To secure cooperation to this end special appeals were made to the 
colored people of the country for their imstinted support. A spe- 
cially selected Committee of One Hundred colored speakers to whom 
reference has been made, acting with local groups everywhere, was 
appointed and materially assisted in the work of maintaining the 
morale of the Negro race throughout the war, the demobilization 
of the army and the reconstruction of the nation on a peace basis. 

Briefly stated, the Negroes did their full share in the great 
struggle to make the world safe for democracy. Four hundred 
thousand Negro soldiers were drafted or enlisted and 200,000 served 
in France under white officers and 1,200 officers of color. Negroes 
served in all branches of the military establishment — the cavalry, 
infantry, artillery, signal corps, medical corps, aviation corps, hos- 
pital corps, auMuunition trains, stevedore regiments, labor battalions, 
depot brigades, engineer regiments, as regimental clerks, surveyors 
and draftsmen. Negro soldiers acquitted themselves with honor in 
the battles of the Argonne Forest, at Chateau Thierry, Belleau 
Wood, at St. Mihiel, in Champagne, in the Vosges, and at Metz, 
and when the Armistice was signed Negro troops as has been pointed 
out were nearest the Rhine. Entire regiments of colored troops, 
including the 369th, 370th, 371st, and 372nd, were cited for excep- 
tional valor and decorated with the French Croix de Guerre. Groups 

458 



WHAT THE NEGRO GOT OUT OF THE WAR 459 

of officers and men of the 92nd Division were likewise decorated. 
The first battalion of the 367th also received the Croix de Guerre. 
Many individuals like Harry Johnson, Needham Roberts, and 
William Butler were awarded the Croix de Guerre and scores of 
officers by devotion to duty earned, even if they did not receive, 
promotion in their military units. 

What has the American Negro got out of the war? Time alone 
can bring the full answer to this sweeping question. To some of 
the manifold implications which the query itself involves, however, 
some answers can already be made. For one thing, the war has 
brought to the American Negro a keener and more sharply defined 
consciousness, not only of his duties as a citizen, but of his rights 
and privileges as a citizen of the United States. The colored people 
of America performed to the utmost of their ability the duties which 
the war imposed upon all citizens, black and white alike. 

A summary of what the Negro wants may be stated : He wants 
justice in the courts substituted for lynching, the privilege of serv- 
ing on juries, the right to vote, and the right to hold office like other 
citizens. He wants, moreover, universal suffrage, better educa- 
tional facilities, the abolition of the "Jim Crow" car, discontinuance 
of unjust discriminatory regulations and segregation in the various 
departments of the Government, the same military training for 
Negro youths as for white, the removal of ''dead lines" in the recog- 
nition of fitness for promotion in the army and navy, the destruction 
of the peonage system, an economic w^age scale to be applied to 
whites and blacks alike, better housing conditions for Negro em- 
ployees in industrial centers, better sanitary conditions in the Negro 
sections of cities, and reforms in the Southern penal institutions. 
If, after having fulfilled the obligations of citizenship Negroes do 
not get these things, then indeed, they feel, wdll the war have been 
fought in vain. 

Racial Attitude of the South 

Judging from the favorable comments in Southern newspapers 
as to the desire for more amicable relations between the races and 
the tendency of Southern whites to labor for a new day of brother- 
hood, many have thought that this enviable situation would result as 
a sequel of the Worid War. In fact there have been a few instances 



460 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

of^istinguished white men who have interfered in behalf of the 
Negro soldiers subjected to indignities on their return from the war. 
A number of white people on a train refused to permit a conductor 
to eject from the passenger car reserved for whites a Negro soldier 
who returned from France with his Croix de Guerre and Distin- 
guished Service Medal. A Southern officer on one occasion boldly 
upbraided his people for their failure to accord to Negro soldiers 
the treatment due those who have offered their lives to defend the 
honor of this country. 

Most of the professed friendship for the Negro in the South, 
however, is largely an economic one, peculiar to the whites who have 
materially suffered by the migration of the Negroes and who are 
now very much disturbed by social unrest among the thousands of 
returned Negro soldiers who find in the South conditions too in- 
tolerable to be longer endured. The South as a whole is much dis- 
turbed by the question as to whether these soldiers who got a glimpse 
of real democracy in France will patiently submit to the treatment 
they received in the South before the World War. A larger number 
of Southerners have tried to bring about a recrudescence of the 
Ku Klux Klan to instill fear into the hearts of these Negroes, that 
they may keep the social status assigned them. There are many 
signs of opposition and discontent. Segregation and much ostra- 
cism still face the NegTo and lynching is about as rampant as ever. 
So far as the South is concerned, therefore, it is not yet known 
whether or not the Negro will benefit by the sacrifices he has made 
for democracy. 

Conditions in the North 

The North too has not been found a paradise for the returning 
Negro soldiers. One hundred thousand of them have on account of 
conditions obtaining in the South declared that they will not again 
live in that section. In the North they must crowd into cities already 
grappling with the problems of an increasing Negro population re- 
sulting from the migration during the World War. One finds in the 
North, therefore, some of the same conditions obtaining in the South. 
In Pittsburg the whites posted threatening signs on the doors of the 
colored people declaring that the war is over and Negroes must stay 
in their place. Recently Chicago became the scene of a race riot 



WHAT THE NEGRO GOT OUT OF THE WAR 461 

between Negroes and whites who bore it grievously that their com- 
munity is being invaded by an increasing number of blacks. The 
chances for employment, moreover, have not increased. Unusual 
efforts have been made to find employment for the demobilized white 
soldiers but the Negro soldiers experience much difficulty in finding 
a free opportunity to live in this country for which they so nobly 
fought. 

In the North, however, there is a growing healthy sentiment in 
the interest of fair play. Many of the best citizens contend that 
the largest task of democracy is that of keeping her own house in 
order. The mere talking about ideals and theories is not so difficult 
as to practice them. These gentlemen deplore the fact that race 
prejudice seems inbred in the spirit of men and that the claims of 
aristocracy make a difference in one's feelings toward those who 
seem to be less fortunately situated. Democracy, they contend, must 
be made a reality. It must be considered an ideal toward which we 
struggle and we must not grow impatient and discouraged when we 
fail to realize it. Democracy must not find it difficult to provide a 
place for the Negro. He must be treated with justice, his interests 
must be protected, his life must be held precious, his children must 
be educated, his health must be preserved, and his rights as an 
American must be defended. These things they claim for the Negro 
because of his unusual loyalty, because he is not inoculated with any 
social theories, because he does not contribute to industrial dis- 
content, because, above all, his patriotism is without alloy. Since 
he has made a good soldier, borne wounds, privations and death in 
the nation's battles to make the world safe for democracy, he de- 
serves to find a place for himself beneath the flag for which he has 
fought and within the borders of the country for which he was 
willing to die. 

In view of the fact that the Negro faithfully supported the 
goverament he expected to get a much larger portion of the benefits 
of democracy than was given him. The Negro expected above all 
that as a fundamental concession in the adjustment of affairs neces- 
sary for the reconstruction to herald a new day for the, man farthest 
down, that colored men would at least be given full opportunity lo 
earn a living. Much was expected from the Department of Labor 
when Dr. George E. Haynes was appointed as a Director of Negro 



462 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Economics to mobilize colored labor to help win the war and secure 
for it a higher position when industrial reconstruction should follow 
a victorious peace. When, however, the Department of Labor itself 
drew the color line, refusing to employ Negroes for certain purposes 
altogether on account of their color and regardless of their eflSciency, 
this proposed good to come to the Negro caused many Negroes to 
call upon Dr. Haynes to emulate the example of the traditional Arab 
by folding his tent and quietly stealing away back to the schoolroom 
to teach the untutored of his race the real meaning of democracy, 
rather than permit himself to be a party to the camouflage of mobiliz- 
ing Negro labor of the country. 

Attitude of Organized Labor 

The Negroes expected too that the hard and fast rules of labor 
organizations which have for years barred men of color from the 
higher pursuits of labor, would be abrogated. It was believed that 
there would be new avenues for the employment of Negroes and that 
the so-called friends of Negro labor would be able to effect more 
than to secure from trade unions mere expressions of interest in 
behalf of the Negro laborers. It is unfortunate, however, that the 
Negro still finds himself refused admission to labor unions and then 
told that he cannot work because he is not a union man. He is denied 
the chance to care for his family properly and then censured because 
of his failure to do so. In Northern States where these restrictions 
have been very rigid it has been difficult to maintain order. Almost 
any day we hear of reports that some **gang" is hunting Negroes 
with tlie intention to do them violence and disturbances and race 
riots growing out of these conditions are now becoming common. 

The Negro, moreover, was disappointed in his expectation to 
get fair play in the Civil Service of the Government. In the midst of 
the war, when at an unusually heavy expense to the Government, 
thousands of agencies had to be quickly established to expedite 
military preparations as much as possible, the United States Gov- 
ernment found itself seriously suffering from a dearth of civil em- 
ployees in its offices. As the demand was so great that it was neces- 
sary to waive the regulations that each should pass the civil service 
examination, the colored people instead of having a larger oppor- 
tunity seemed to be less considered than formerly. The Civil Service 



WHAT THE NEGRO GOT OUT OP THE WAR 463 

Commiseion has inaugurated the scheme of requiring every appli- 
cant in a civil service examination to present his photograph so as 
to eliminate, it is quite generally felt, the Negro ; and when the exam- 
inations were waived altogether their problem of restricting the 
service entirely to white people was easily solved. 

Instances of Discrimination 

Some of these instances are interesting. Mrs. Sitka D. Thomas 
of Washington, D. C, and hundreds of others were certified to 
Departments for clerical appointments but were rejected. One Miss 
Taylor, a graduate of Howard University, was certified numerous 
times to various bureaus in the service, rejected 16 times and finally 
on personal appeal from her father was given a clerical position at 
$720 per annum when $1,000 appointments were literally going 
begging. One Miss Roberts, a graduate of the Boston I ^-i:in 
School, was certified five times as a clerk to different bureaus and 
rejected every time. A Mr. Thompson, now employed in the Depart- 
ment of Justice, was certified to the Ordnance Bureau, where he was 
told that colored clerks were not wanted. Miss Aurelia Ferguson, 
formerly a teacher in the public schools of New Hampshire, was 
certified to the W^ar Department, but rejected on the grounds that 
she was already employed in the civil service and could not be ap- 
pointed to a position paying a higher salary. She was again certified 
to the "War Trade Board and when she presented her telegram was 
told that *'some mistake had been made" as her card could not be 
found. In April, 1918, she was again notified by telegram that she 
had been appointed in the Bureau of War Eisk at a salary of $1000 
and that her services were urgently needed. Upon reporting, she 
was again informed that her card could not be found. She took up 
the matter with one of the Senators from New Hampshire, but he 
was compelled in the end to report that nothing could be done as it 
seemed to be the policy of that Bureau not to appoint colored clerks, 
— only a few out of the 14,000, or more, clerks are colored. 

The Negro race and especially the Negro soldier expected that 
in consideration of what the race as a whole did for the winning of 
the war, it would receive more consideration in the army when, 
upon a revelation as to the truth about the slander upon Negro 



464 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

afficeri^ the fairminded people of this country would be convincod as 
to the worth of the Negroes who led their fellow men at the front 
and would see to it that hereafter Negro troops be commanded by 
Negro officers. On the contrary, however, coming out here and there 
in the army wherever the Negro officer has endeavored permanently 
to attach himself to the service, have been what appear to be definite 
efforts to eliminate the Negro officer entirely. As a means to this 
end certain officers in charge of such reconunendations have turned 
down several colored officers who were awarded medals of honor for 
distinguished service in France. In the case of Thomas M. Dent, 
who attained distinction in France, the prejudiced officers in charge 
undertook to brand him as disqualified ** because of qualities inherent 
in the Negro race which make Negroes incapable of being leaders 
and officers." Upon appeal to the War Department, however, this 
decision was set aside. 

Not only has there been an effort to get rid of the Negro officer 
but in many cases also the Negro private. When, after demobiliza- 
tion of most of the army, it became necessary to call for 50,000 
volunteers for special duty it was specifically stated that these volun- 
teers were to be white, not Negroes. Here was an opportunity to 
show one 's patriotism and the Negroes nobly volunteered to manifest 
theirs, but considering the opportunity a much more desirable one 
than the ordinary enlistment of soldiers, it was reserved to white 
men. The Negroes then, it would seem, must be patriotic, must 
make personal sacrifices for the country, and even give their lives to 
defend it, but they must not expect to get out of it the same returns 
which will come to white men. 

Upon the return to the United States, the Negro soldiers ex- 
pected that **Jim Crowism" and segregation would receive a check 
if not eliminated altogether. The Negro soldier returning from the 
front bore it grievously that on arriving home he had to ride in 
''Jim Crow" cars, and be excluded from the use of public places. 
Their contention is that these places are licensed by the Government, 
established and often wholly maintained by it and, therefore, should 
be accessible to all. They contended, moreover, that exclusion from 
these public places often means no such facilities for Negroes or, 
if at all, decidedly inferior accommodations. 



WHAT THE NEGRO GOT OUT OF THE WAR 465 

Better Treatment Demanded 

The Negro expected, too, a change in the attitude of the white 
man toward the rigkt of the blacks to exercise the highest funotiona 
of citizenship. It has required little argument to convince the 
Negroes that they are powerless in the hands of the militant whites 
when the former can neither vote nor hold oflSce. Relying then upon 
principles long since set forth by the fathers of the Republic that the 
men who fight for the country ought to share the control of its gov- 
ernment, the Negroes have boldly presented their case to the world. 
This petition has, in most places, fallen upon deaf ears. Instead of a 
tendency to extend the right of franchise there has been something 
like a recrudescence, as already stated, of the Ku Klux Klan so as 
to intimidate the Negroes of the South that they may not seek to 
reach this end. 

Intelligent Negroes, therefore, who got some idea of the real 
liberty in France although they were not permitted to enjoy it over- 
much, are united in demanding better treatment from the American 
people and to this end have organized a League of Democracy to 
further their interest. They will not accept excuses, they say ; they 
will not keep silence, they must be heard. They want to enjoy 
the same rights and privileges vouchsafed to all other citizens 
regardless of race, creed, or condition. Americans, therefore, 
they hope, will oppose those enemies to democracy at home that the 
Junkers were to democracy in Europe. There must come a new 
day, Negroes feel, for the United States when the country ^vill 
square itself with its own conscience and with the world in regard 
to its attitude toward the Negroes in America. 

It will be interesting, therefore, to understand exactly what 
some of the colored leaders are thinking. A very advanced posi- 
tion has been taken by Dr. A. A. Graham, of Phoebus, Virginia, 
whose words may be quoted here: 

"It is necessary now as never before that the black man press 
his claims as an American citizen. He should demand every right 
which this government owes to those who maintain its life and 
defend its honor. He should be willing to make no compromise of 
any kind, nor be satisfied with anything less than full justice. He 
has paid the price which all men have had to pay for liberty 



466 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

within the law. He has made the supreme sacrifice which entitled 
men to every just consideration of the government to which they 
pay allegiance. His shortcomings as a man and a human being 
did not excuse him from any of the duties and sacred responsibili- 
ties which the government imposed upon those whom it recgonized 
as worthy of its claim upon them. He was called to volunteer when 
the country was in danger, as other men were called. He was 
conscripted. He was subjected to all the hard disciplines and ex- 
posures to death to which other men of the nation were exposed, 
and as an unquestioned American citizen, was asked to support all 
the war program from the purchase of savings stamps to the suf- 
fering and death in the trenches and on the battle field. 

**No allowance was made for his so-called inferiority, and none 
was spoken of. The Government laid claim to him, both body and 
soul, and used him as freely as if he were the equal of any other 
man behind the guns or who had curly hair and blue eyes. The 
path he ha^ to walk was just as rough, the load he had to carry 
was just as heavy, and the life he gave just as sweet, as that of 
any other man who laid his all upon the altar. He should con- 
tend, therefore, for every privilege, every comfort, every right 
which other men enjoy. He should fight wrong and injustice for 
himself and his children with the very same valor that he fought 
the Hun for the nation, and he should fight with the same good 
judgment and wisdom." 

The Negro as a Citizen 

And in the Southwestern Christicm Advocate, of New Orleans, 
Louisiana, the Reverend Dr. Robert E. Jones, an outstanding leader 
of the Negro race, voices the sense of this new recognition of the 
Negro's position as a citizen. He says: 

**The statement of Lincoln, that this country could not exist 
half slave and half free, has been thoroughly vindicated by sub- 
sequent history. Just as that statement was a true interpretation 
of the life of the American Republic, at the time it was uttered, so 
is a modern application of that statement equally true. This 
country cannot exist half democratic and half autocratic. This 
country cannot exist with a part of its citizenship enjoying the 
full privileges guaranteed by the Constitution, while a large seg- 



WHAT THE NEGRO GOT OUT OF THE WAR 467 

ment of our citizenship is oppressed, discriminated against and 
hindered in many ways. 

"The London Guardian in referring to a statement of the 
boundary question between Holland and Belgium said that in 
ordinary times such questions would be the making of serious 
trouble and then the Guardian pertinently adds, 'The times, how- 
ever, are not ordinary.' And these are not ordinary times. They 
are very unusual. The pot of civilization is boiling. Things are 
to be settled, but they wall not be settled unless they are settled 
right. And the Negro wants his status changed from that of 
practical peonage to that of free, independent manhood with an 
upward look and an unhindered pathway. He wants this, first 
of all, on the basis of his place in the human brotherhood of 
divine right. He wants this on the basis of the marvelous progress 
that he has made in freedom. 

*'It has often been said that no race in all history matches 
the progress in the same length of time of the Negro race during 
the past 50 years. He wants it by the revelation of his soul 
life as shown forth in slavery as well as in freedom. That superb 
fidelity of the Negro slave to the trusts of those who left him 
behind should bring a blush of shame to the South when it permits 
now such frequent lynchings without redress and in many cases with- 
out investigation. But the Negro wants also his status fixed on 
the basis of what he has earned by the force of arras. With our 
allies we won a mighty victory over Germany. It was a triumph 
of democracy over autocracy. The Negro had a hand directly in 
this victory, but did he not also indirectly win for himself by 
every rule of the game, larger privileges than he had heretofore 
enjoyed? 

''The New York World in a recent editorial says: 'War has 
sinister markings of its own, won in all sufficiency. There is no 
room for the color line across its horrid front. Such is the 
thought that suggests itself afresh, for there have been other events 
calling to mind the gallantry of our colored troops.' And then 
the New York World refers to tlie fact that the Negro soldiers 
were decorated by the French authorities, 'For extraordinary 
heroism under fire.' The World continues: 'Tue words sweep 



468 SCOTT'S OFFICIAIj HISTORY 

aside every consideration other than that of soldierly merit. Th« 
man who dares and does, he is a man for all this and all that.' 

*<The Negro has WON his decorations in France on 'soldierly 
merit.' He has WON at the same time by the manifestation of his 
courage, and his devotion and his loyalty, a more even chance in 
American life. And the victory should be made sure. And let 
us not mince words. We do not intend now that we have served 
the Nation in every war of the Republic and that we have borne 
our full share, according to our capacity, in every phase of the 
World War, to further accept the indignities heaped upon us as 
a race without a solemn protest to every sense of conscience and 
right in America and without appeal to the sense of conscience of 
civilization the world over. 

"There is one thing this World War has done. It has lifted 
the Negro problem out of the provincialism of America into the 
circumspection of the civilized world. We purpose to carry our 
cause into the open forum of the world. We purpose to let the 
world know that the soldiers that brought glory to the American 
flag on the fields of France are denied the common courtesies in 
too many cases when they return home. And surely our appeal 
to the world will not fall altogether on deaf ears. There will be 
an awakening, you may rest assured, a sense of right and of 
justice that will react upon American life. We make this appeal 
to the world in no sense of disloyalty to our Nation. We do it 
because we are loyal. We will be heard. We will not be lynched 
and robbed and hedged about without a solemn protest. We do 
not plead for pity or sympathy. We want what we have earned 
by every rule of the game. 

The Negro's Wonderful Patience 

"A white man said the other day, in discussing relations be- 
tween the races, 'No other race under the sun would endure what 
the Negro does except the Negro.' White men would not stand 
for a moment, if they had our status of intelligence and of wealth 
and of numbers, or submit to the disfranchisement, the uneven 
opportunities, the oppression and discriminations that we meet 
on every hand. Someone has said much about race consciousness. 
Whatever that means, we know this, that much the Negro 



WHAT THE NP:GR0 GOT OUT OF THE WAR 469 

suffers white men would not endure for twenty-four hours, nor 
will we in the future without a protest. And we expect to find in 
the heart of the Nation, North and South, East and West, among 
those who are supposedly opposed to us, as well as among* our 
friends, men and women who will lend themselves to a readjust- 
ment of our life in the Nation, so that we shall have a measure of 
peace and the pursuit of happiness. We will make our appeal 
with the certainty that we do not stand alone. If we did, the 
appeal would be worthless. But there Avill stand with us a power- 
ful minority, a minority even in the South that is prophetic of a 
better day. But it must not be thought that this minority. North 
or South, wdll champion our cause unless we have a personal 
appreciation of our own condition and an intense desire for real 
freedom. He who would be free must strike the first blow. Stat- 
utes and proclamations by the score will not help the Negro unless 
the Negro first is in a position to be helped. Our friends must 
know our desires. We are making them known in as plain a way 
as w^e know how. We do this in love out of a desire for peace 
and good-will, believing that a more equitable readjustment of the 
relations of the races in this countiy will strengthen our National 
bonds, increase our National wealth, add to our National content- 
ment and hasten the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth as it 
is in heaven." 

With a broad vision, too, the Negroes of this country have 
looked forward to a better day for the Negro race throughout the 
world. From the League of Nations the race has expected an 
amicable adjustment of relations in Africa so as to secure to the 
natives the opportunities for social, economic and political develop- 
ment. The author urged in an address delivered in Carnegie Ilall, 
New York, November 2, 1918, that with a view to granting larger 
liberties for African allies the Peace Conference would establish 
an International Commission, one member of which would ho 
an American Negro. Because of the revoUing cruelties perpetrated 
upon the natives in the African dependencies, American Negroes 
have protested against any contemplation of restoring to Germany 
her African colonies. Is it too much to say that to restoro these 
helpless black men to their former oppressors would be a terrible 
betrayal? Has not the hour come when men even in darkest 



470 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Africa may cry out for the right to elect or ordain their own 
destinies under an acceptable tutelage, and the guidance of en- 
lightened men rather than under oppressive and cruel masters? 
If the Senegalese, Algerian and Sudanese troops stayed the Hun 
and saved civilization to the world, the nations of the world should 
see to it that these people be removed from the iron heel of 
malignant oppressors. 

With a similar plan in view, Dr. W. E. B. DuBois was en- 
enabled to go to France as a newspaper correspondent during the 
session of the Peace Conference and there, with a peraiit from 
Premier Clemenceau and his co-workers, succeeded in bringing 
together a sufficiently large number of intelligent Negroes and 
sympathetic whites to hold what he called a Pan- African Congress 
of which he was made secretary. There was much discussion as 
to the rights of the Negroes throughout the world and plans for 
establishing the same. The Congress was not of one accord in 
expressing an attitude of censure toward those nations in control 
of the blacks in various parts of the world, for the reason that all 
of these nations are not equally culpable. The CongTess did make 
some impression in Paris and passed the following significant 
resolutions : 

''Wherever persons of African descent are civilized and able 
to meet the tests of surrounding culture, they shall be accorded 
the same rights as their fellow citizens; they shall not be denied 
on account of race or color a voice in their own government, 
justice before the courts and economic and social equality accord- 
ing to ability and desert. 

''Whenever it is proven that African natives are not receiving 
Just treatment at the hands of any State or that any State de- 
liberately excludes its civilized citizens from its body politic and 
cultural, it shall be the duty of the League of Nations to bring the 
matter to the attention of the civilized world.'* 



APPENDIX 

(A) 

COMMISSIONED AT FT. DES MOINES 

Colored Officers of the Seventeenth Provisional Training Regiment 
Who Wo7i Commissions October 15, 1917 — Their Home Ad- 
dresses, and National Army Camps to which They Were 
Assigned. 

Cleve L. Abbott, First Lieut., O. R. C, Watertown, South Dakota, to Camp Meade. 
Joseph L. Abernethy, First Lieut, 0. R. C, Prairie View, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Ewart G. Abner, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Conroe, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Charles J. Adams, First Lieutenant, National Army, Selma, Alabama, to Carap Dodge. 
Aurelious P. Alberga, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, San Francisco, Cal., to Camp Grant. 
Ira L. Alridge, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, New York, to Camp Dodge. 
Edward I. Alexander, First Lieut., National Array, Jacksonville, Florida, to Camp Dix. 
Fritz W. Alexander, Second Lieut., O. R. C, Donaldsville, Georgia, to Camp Meade. 
Lucien V. Alexis, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Cambridge, Mass., to Camp Upton. 
John H. Allen, Captain, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Grant. 

Levi Alexander, Jr., First Lieutenant, National Army, Ocala, Florida, to Camp Dlx. 
Clarence W. Allen, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Mobile, Alabama to Carap Dodge. 
Richard S. Allen, Second Lieut, National Array, Atlantic City, N. J., to Camp Dix. 
James W. Alston, First Lt., National Army, Raleigh, North Carolina, to Camp Grant 
Benjamin E. Ammons, First Lieut., 0. R. C, Kansas City, Mo., to Camp Funston. 
Leon M. Anderson, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Washington, D C, to Carap Meade. 
Levi Anderson, First Lieutenant, National Array, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Robert Anderson, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Sherman. 
David W. Anthony, Jr., First Lieutenant, O. R. C, St. Louis, Mo., to Camp Funston. 
James C. Arnold, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Atlanta, Georgia, to Camp Dodge. 
Russell C. Atkins, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Winston-Salem, N. C. to Camp Grant. 
Henry O. Atwood, Captain, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Charles H. Austin, Second Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Upton. 
George J. Austin, First Lieutenant, National Army, New York, N. Y., to Camp Upton. 
Herbert Avery, Captain, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Meade. 
Robert S. Bampfleld, Second Lieut., O. R. C, Wilmington, N. C, to Camp Grant. 
Julian C. Banks, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Kansas City, Mo., to Camp Funston. 
Charles H. Barbour, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Funston. 
Walter B. Barnes, First Lieut., National Army, United States Army, to Camp Fxinston. 
William I. Barnes, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Stephen B. Barrows, Second Lieut., National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Sherman. 
Thomas J. Batey, First Lieutenant O. R. C, Oakland, California, to Camp Grant 
Wilfrid Bazll, Second Lieutenant, National Array, Brooklyn, N. Y., to Camp Upton. 
James E. Beard, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, U. S. Army to Camp Funston. 
Ether Beattie, Second Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Meade. 
William H. Benson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Atlanta, Georgia, to Camp Dodge. 
Albert P. Bentlev, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C. Memphis. Tenn., to Camp Grant. 
Benjamin Bettls," Second Lieutenant. National Army. U. S. Army, to Camp Meade. 
Harrison W. Black, First Lieutenant. 0. R. C. Lexington, Ky.. to Camp Grunt 
Charles J. Blackwood, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C. Trinidad, Colorado, to Camp Grant 

471 



472 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

William Blaney, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Upton. 
Isaiah S. Blocker, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Atlanta, Georgia, to Camp Dodge. 
William D. Ely, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Leavenworth, Kansas, to Camp Funston. 
Henry H. Boger, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Aurora, Illinois, to Camp Grant 
Elbert L. Booker, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Wymer, Washington, to Camp Dodge. 
James F. Booker, Captain, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Upton. 
William R. Bowie, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Dlx. 
Virgil M. Boutte, Captain, O. R. C, Nashville, Tenn., to Camp Grant. 
Clyde R. Brannon, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Fremont, Nebraska, to Camp Dodge. 
Lewis Broadus, Captain, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Funston. 
Deton J. Brooks, First Lieut., National Army, Chicago, Illinois, to Camp Grant. 
William M. Brooks, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Des Moines, Iowa, to Camp Dodge. 
Carter N. Brown, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Atlanta, Georgia, to Camp Dodge. 
Emmet Brown, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, St. Louis, Missouri, to Camp Funston. 
George E. Brown, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, New York City, N. W., to Camp Upton. 
Oscar C. Brown, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Edwards, Miss, to Camp Upton. 
Rosen T. Brown, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dix. 
Samuel C. Brown, Second Lieut., National Army, Delaware, Ohio, to Camp Sherman. 
William H. Brown, Jr., First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Upton. 
Arthur A. Browne, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Xenia, Ohio, to Camp Grant. 
Howard R. M. Browne, First Lieut., O. R. C, Kansas City, Kansas, to Camp Funston. 
Sylvanus Brown, First Lieut., National Army, San Antonio, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
■ Charles C. Bruen, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Mayslick, Kentucky, to Camp Grant. 
William T. Bums, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dodge. 
James A. Bryant, First Lieut., N. Army, Indianapolis, Indiana, to Camp Sherman. 
William L. Bryson, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dlx. 
John E. Buford, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Langston, Oklahoma, to Camp Dlx. 
Thomas J. Bullock, Second Lieut., N. Army, New York City, N. W., to Camp Upton. 
John W. Bundrant, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Omaha, Nebraska, to Camp Dodge. 
John P. Burgess, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Mullens, S. C, to Camp Grant. 
Dace H. Burns, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Chicago, 111., to Camp Grant. 
William H. Burrel, Second Lieut., National Army, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
John M, Burrell, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, East Orange, N. J., to Camp Dix. 
Herman L. Butler, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Homer C. Butler, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, New York, N. Y., to Camp Upton. 
Felix Buggs, Second Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Grant. 
Napoleon L. Byrd, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Madison, Wisconsin, to Camp Grant. 
John B. Cade, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, EUerton, Georgia, to Camp Dodge. 
Walter W. Cagle, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Grant. 
Charles W. Caldwell, Second Lieut., National Army, Orangeburg, S. C, to Camp Meade. 
Andrew B. Callahan, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Montgomery, Ala., to Camp Dodge. 
Alvin H. Cameron, First Lieutenant, National Army, Nashville, Tenn. to Camp Grant. 
Alonzo Campbell, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Upton. 
Lafayette Campbell, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Union, W. Va., to Camp Dix. 
Robert L. Campbell, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Greensboro, N. C, to Camp Grant. 
William B. Campbell, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Austin, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Guy W. Canady, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Atlanta, Georgia, to Camp Dodge. 
Ijovelace B. Capehart, Jr., Second Lieutenant, O. R. C., Raleigh, N. C, to Camp Grant. 
Adolphus F. Capps, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Philadelphia, Pa., to Camp Dix. 
Curtis W. Carpenter, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Baltimore, Md., to Camp Meade. 
Early Carson, Captain, National Army, United States Army, to Camp Grant. 
John C. Carter, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Wilson Gary, Second Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Funston. 
Robert W. Cheers, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Baltimore, Md., to Camp Meade. 
David K. Cherry, Captain, O. R. C, Greensboro, N. C, to Camp Dix. 
Frank R. Chlsholm, First Lieut., National Army, Brooklyn, N. W., to Camp Upton. 
Robert B. Chubb, Captain, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Dix. 
Ewell W. Clark, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Giddings, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Frank C. Clark, Second Lt., O. R. C, N. Guard, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
William H. Clarke, First Lieut., National Army, Birmingham, Ala., to Camp Dodge. 
William H. Clarke, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Helena, Arkansas, to Camp Dodge. 
Roscoe Clayton, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Funston. 



COiMMISSIONED AT FORT DES MOINES 473 



Tffl„?-w^w!f' !®^^?^ Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Memphis, Tennessee, to Camp Meade. 
Joshua W Clifford. First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C. to Camp Meade, 
kpngg B Coates, Captain, National Army, United States Armv, to Camp Meade 
Frank Coleman, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Dix 
^i!!. ™ ,^0"^®^' Second Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Armv, to Camp Dix 
wnilani N. Col son. Second Lieut., O. R. C, Cambridge, Mas.sachusetts, to Camp Upton 
Leonard O. Colston, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Armv, to Camp Funston 
Jones A. Coltrane, First Lieutenant, National Army, Spokane, Wash., to Camp Dodge 
John Combs, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Armv, to Camp Funston 
Barton W. Conrad, First Lieut., National Army, Cambridge, Mass., to Camp Upton 
Lloyd F. Cook, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Armv, to Camp Funston 
Charles C. Cooper, Capt., National Army, National Guard, D. C. to Camp Meade. 
George P. Cooper, First Lieutenant, National Armv, U. S. Armv, to Camp Upton 
Joseph H. Cooper, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Washington, D. C.,' to Camp Dtx. 
Chesley E. Corbett, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Wewoka, Oklahoma, to Camp Grant. 
Harry W. Cox, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Sedalla, Missouri, to Camp Funston. 
James W. Cranson, Captain, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Grant. 
Horace R. Crawford, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Judge Cross, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, United States Armv, to Camp Meade. 
Clarence B. Curley, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Merrill H. Curtis, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Wa.shington, D. C, to Camp Dix. 
Edward L. Dabney, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Hampton, Va., to Camp Upton. 
Joe Dabney, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Meade. 
Victor R. Daly, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Corona, Ix)ng Island, N. Y., to Camp Upton. 
Eugene A. Dandridge, First Lieut., O. R. C, National Guard, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Eugene L. C. Davidson, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Cambridge, Mass., to Camp Upton. 
Henry G. Davis, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Atlanta, Georgia, to Camp Grant. 
Irby D. Davis, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Sumter, S. C, to Camp Grant. 
William E. Davis, Captain, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Upton 
Charles C Dawson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Chicago, Illinois, to Camp Grant. 
William S. Dawson, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Chicago, Illinois, to Camp Grant. 
Aaron Day, Jr., Captain, O. R. C, Prairie View, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Milton T. Dean, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Funston. 
Francis M. Dent, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Thomas M. Dent, Jr., First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
James B. Dickson, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, AsheviUe, N. C, to Camp Grant. 
Spahr H. Dickey, Captain, O. R. C, San Francisco, Cal., to Camp Funston. 
Elder W. Diggs, First Lieut., National Army, Indianapolis, Ind., to Camp Sherman. 
William H. Dinkins, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Selma, Ala., to Camp Dodge. 
Beverly L. Dorsey, Captain, 0. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Upton. 
Edward C. Dorsey, Captain, 0. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Harris N. Dor.sey, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Upton. 
Seaborn Douglas, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Hartford, Conn., to Camp Upton. 
Vest Douglas, First Lieutenant. National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Upton. 
Frank L. Drye, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Little Rock, Arkansas, to Camp Grant. 
Edward Dugger, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Roxbury, Mass., to Camp Upton. 
Henry E. Dunn, Second Lieutenant, National Army, Kinston, N. C, to Camp Grant. 
Jackson E. Dunn, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Upton. 
Benjamin F. Dunning, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Norfolk, Virginia, to Camp Dix. 
Charles J. Echols, Jr., Captain, 0. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Charles Ecton, Captain, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Funston. 
George E. Edwards, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Funston. 
Leonard Edwards, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Augusta, Georgia, to Camp Grant. 
James L, Elliott, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Atlanta, Georgia, to Camp Dodge. 
Charles J. Ellis, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Springfield, 111. to Camp Dodge. 
Harrv C. Ellis, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Patrick, Louisiana, to Cnmp Dodge. 
Roscbe Ellis, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dix. 
Leslie H. Engrara, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Nontezuma, Ga., to Camp Grant 
Alexander E. Evans, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Columbia, S. C, to Camp Grant 
Wll H Evans, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Montgomery, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Norwood C. Fairfax, Second Lieut., O. R. C, Eagle Rock, Virginia, to Camp McaJ«^. 
John R. Falrley, First Lieut., National Army, Kansas City, Mo., to Camp Funston. 



474 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Clifford L. Farrer, First Lieut., O. R. C, El Paso, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Leonard J. Faulkner, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Columbus, Ohio, to Camp Sherman. 
William H. Fearence, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Texarkana, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Charles H. Fearing, First Lieutenant, National Army, St. Louis, Mo., to Camp Grant. 
Robert W. Fearing, Second Lieut., National Army, Brooklyn, N. Y., to Camp Upton. 
Alonzo, G. Ferguson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C. to Camp Meade. 
Gurnett E. Ferguson, Captain, 0. R. C, Dunbar, W. Va. to Camp Grant. 
Thomas A. Firmes, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Grant. 
Dillard J. Firse, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Cleveland, Ohio, to Camp Sherman. 
Octavius Fisher, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Detroit, Michigan, to Camp Sherman. 
James E. Fladger, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Kansas City, Mo., to Camp Upton. 
Benjamin F. Ford, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Grant. 
Edward W. Ford, Second Lieutenant, National Army, Philadelphia, Pa., to Camp Dix. 
Frank L. Francis, Second Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Henry O. Franklin, Second Lt., National Army, San Francisco, Cal., to Camp Funston. 
Ernest C. Prazier, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Dix. 
Arthur Freeman, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Upton. 
Sewell C. Freeman, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Aragon, Georgia, to Camp Meade. 
Edv.-ai-d S. Gaillard, First Lieut., National Army, Indianapolis, Ind., to Camp Grant. 
Tacitus E. Gaillard, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, aKnsas City, Mo., to Camp Funston. 
James H. L. Gaines, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Little Rock, Ark., to Camp Dodge. 
PJllsworth Gamblee, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Cincinnati, Ohio, to Camp Sherman. 
Lucian P. Garrett, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Louisville, Ky., to Camp Sherman. 
William L. Lee, First Lieutenant, National Army, Gallipolis, Ohio, to Camp Grant. 
Clayborne George, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Warmith T. Gibbs, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Cambridge, Mass., to Camp Upton. 
Howard C. Gilbert, First Lieutenant, National Army, Columbus, Ohio, to Camp Grant. 
Walter A. Giles, First Lieutenant, National Army, St. Louis, Mo., to Camp Dix. 
Archie H. Gillespie, Captain, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Upton. 
William GlUum, Captain, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Grant. 
Floyd Gilmer, First Lieutenant, National Army, United States Army, to Camp Grant. 
William Glass, Captain, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Sherman. 
Jesse J. Gleeden, Second Lieutenant 0. R. C, Little Rock, Ark., to Camp Grant. 
Leroy H. Godman, Captain, O. R. C, Columbus, Ohio, to Camp Sherman. 
Edward L. Goodlett, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Atlanta, Georgia, to Camp Dodge. 
Nathan O. Goodloe, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Frank M. Goodner, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dix. 
Elijah H. Goodwin, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Dix. 
James A. Gordon, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, St. Joseph, Mo., to Camp Dix. 
Herbert R. Gould, First Lieutenant, National Army, Dedham, Mass., to Camp Upton. 
James E. Gould, First Lieutenant, National Army, Dedham, Mass., to Camp Upton. 
Francis H. Gow, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Charleston, W. Va., to Camp Grant. 
William T. Grady, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Dudley, N. C, to Camp Grant. 
Jesse M. H. Graham Second Lieut., Nat. Army, Clarksville, Tenn., to Camp Sherman. 
William H. Graham, Captain, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Upton. 
Towson S. Grasty, First Lieutenant, National Army, Pittsburgh, Pa., to Camp Dix. 
Thornton H. Gray, First Lieut., Nat. Army, Fairmount Heights, Md., to Camp Upton. 
Miles M. Green, Captain, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Upton. 

Thomas E. Green, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Sherman. 
Walter Green, Captain, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Meade. 
Jesse J. Green, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Georgetown, Ky., to Camp Grant. 
Thomas M. Gregory, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Newark, N. J., to Camp Dix. 
Jefferson E. Grigsby, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Chappelle, S. C, to Camp Dix. 
Thomas Grundy, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dix. 
William W. Green, Captain, O. R. C., United States Army, to Camp Grant. 
George B. Greenlee, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Marion, N. C, to Camp Grant 
Nello B. Greenlee, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, New York, N. Y., to Camp Upton. 
Herbert H. Guppy, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Boston, Mass., to Camp Upton. 
George C. Hall, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Leonidas H. Hall, Jr., Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Philadelphia, Pa., to Camp Dix. 
George W. Hamilton, Jr., First Lieut., O. R. C, Topeka, Kansas, to Camp FMnston. 
Rodney D. Hardeway, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Houston, Texas, to Camp Funston. 



COMMISSIONED AT FORT DES MOINES 475 

Clarence W. Harding, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 

Clifton S. Hardy, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Champaign, 111., to Camp Dodge. 

Clay Harper, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Array, to Camp Funston. 

Ted O. Harper, Second Lieut., National Army, Columbus, Ohio, to Camp Sherman. 

Tillman H. Harpole, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Kansas City Mo., to Camp Funston. 

Bravid W. Harris, Jr., First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Warrenton, N. C, to Camp Grant. 

Edward H. Harris, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Meade. 

Eugene Harris, Captain, O. R. C, U. S. Array, to Camp Funston. 

William Harris, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, .to Camp Meade. 

Byrd McD. Hart, Captain, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 

Albert L. Hatchett, First liieutenant, O. R. C, San Antonio, Texas, to Camp Funston. 

Lawrence Hawkins, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Bowie, Md., to Camp Meade. 

Charles M. Hayes, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Hopkinsvllle, Ky., to Camp Sherman. 

Merrlara C. Hayson, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Kenllworth. D. C, to Camp Meade. 

Alonzo Heard, Captain, National Army, U. S. Array, to Camp Dodge. 

Ahuando Henderson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Upton. 

Douglas J. Henderson, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, WashlnRton, D. C, to Camp Meade. 

Robert M. Hendrlck, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Tallahassee. Fla., to Camp Dlx. 

Thomas J. Henry, Jr., First Lieutenant, O. R. C., Atlanta, Georgia, to Camp Dodge. 

Vodrey Henry, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Funston. 

Jesse S. Hesllp, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Toledo, Ohio, to Camp Grant. 

Lee J. Hicks, Captain, 0. R. C, Ottawa, Kansas, to Camp Funston. 

Victor LaNaire Hicks, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Columbia, Mo., to Camp Funston. 

Arthur A. Hill, First Lieutenant, National Army, Lawrence Kansas, to Camp Funston. 

Daniel G. Hill, Jr., Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Cantonsville, Md.. to Camp Meade. 

Walter Hill, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Carap Dodge. 

William Hill, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dodge. 

Clarence O. Hilton, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Farmville, Virginia, to Camp Dlx. 

Jewell B. Hodges, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Houston, Texas, to Camp Funston. 

Horatio B. Holder, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Cairo, Ga.. to Camp Dodge. 

George A. Holland, Captain, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 

James G. Hollingsworth, Captain, O. R. C, U. S. Array, to Carap Grant. 

George C. Hollomand, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C. Washington, D. C, to Camp Dlx. 

Wayne L. Hopkins. Second Lieutenant, O. R. C. Columbus, Ohio, to Camp Shermnn. 

James L. Horace, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C. Litt'e Rock, Arkansas, to Camp Grant. 

Reuben Horner, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dix. 

Charles S. Hou.?3;h, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Jamestown, Ohio, to Carap Sherm.Tr 

Charles H. Houston, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 

Henry C. Houston, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Meade. 

Cecil' A. Howard. First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington. D. C. to Camp Dlx. 

Clarence K. Howard, Second Lieut., 0. R. C, Montgomery, Alabama, to Camp Dodrrc 

Charles P. Howard, First Lieutenant, O. R. C. Des Moines, Iowa, to Camp Dodge. 

Arthur Hubbard, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Array, to Carap Funston. 

Jerome L. Hubert, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Houston, Texas, to Camp Funston. 

William H. Hubert, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Mayfield, Georgia, to Camp Meade. 

Jefferson E. Hudging, First Lieutenant, O. R. C. U. S. Army, to Carap Grant. 

Samuel M. Huffman, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Columbus, Ohio, to Carap Shermon. 

Samuel A. Hull, First Lieutenant, Natlon.-'l Army. Jacksonville, Florida, to Carap Dix. 

John R. Hunt, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Carap Meade. 
•Bush A. Hunter, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Lexington, Ky., to Camp Sherman. 

Benjamin H. Hunton, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Newport News, Va., to Camp Upton. 

Frederick A. Hurt, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington. D. C. to Camp Dlx. 

Walter L. Hutcherson, First Lieut., O. R. C, Amherst (post office) Va., to Camp Upton. 

Samuel B. Hutchinson, Jr., Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C. Boston, Mass., to Carap Upton. 

James E. Ivev, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Atlanta, Georgia, to Camp Dodge. 

Beecher A. JacVson, First T>Ieutenant, O. R. C. Texarkana, Texas, to Camp Funston. 

George W. Jackson, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Ardmore, ^lo., to Camp Grant. 

Joseph T. Jackson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Charleston, W. Va., to Camp Grant. 

T.anden Jackson, First Lieutenant, National Array, U. S. Array, to Camp Grant. 

Matthew Jackson, Captain, O. R. C. U. S. Array, to Carap Grant. 
■ Maxey A. Jackson. Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Marian, Ky., to Camp Sherman. 

Joyce G. Jacobs. Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Chicago, 111., to Camp Grant. 



476 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Wesley H. Jamison, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Topeka, Kansas, to Camp Funston. 
CMrles Jefferson, Second Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Sherman. 
Benjamin R. Johnson, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, New York, N. Y., to Camp Upton. 
Campbell C. Johnson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Dlx. 
Ernest C. Johnson, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Dix. 
Everett W. Johnson, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Philadelphia, Pa., to Camp Dix. 
Hanson Johnson, Captain, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Funston. 
HUlery W. Johnson, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Philadelphia, Pa., to Camp Dlx. 
Joseph L. Johnson, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Philadelphia, Pa., to Camp Dix. 
Merle 0. Johnson, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Grant. 
Robert E. Johnson, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Thomas Johnson, Captain, National Army, United States Army, to Camp Dlx. 
Virglnius D. Johnson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Richmond, Va., to Camp Upton. 
William N, Johnson, Second Lieut., National Army, Omaha, Nebraska, to Camp Dodge. 
William T. Johnson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Willie Johnson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Charles A. Jones, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, San Antonio, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Clifford W. Jones, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Dee Jones, Captain, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 

Edward D. Jones, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Hartford, Conn., to Camp Upton. 
James W. Jones, Captain, 0. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
James O. Jones, Second Lieut., National Army, Paulding, Ohio, to Camp Sherman. 
Paul W. Jones, First Lieutenant, National Army, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Percy L. Jones, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Upton. 
Vivian L. Jones, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C., Des Moines, Iowa, to Camp Dodge. 
Warren F. Jones, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Funston. 
William Jones, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodgfe. 
Charles G. Kelly, Captain, National Army, Tuskegee, Alabama, to Camp Dodge. • 
Elliott H. Kelly, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Camden, S. C, to Camp Upton. 
John B. Kemp, Captain, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Grant. 
John M. Kenney, Captain, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Upton. 
Will Kemts, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Dix. 
Otiji E. Kerr, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Hampton, Virginia, to Camp Upton. 
O^Pkus J. Kincald, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Meade. 
Jesse L. KImbrough, First Lieutenant, O. R. C., Los Angeles, Cal., to Camp Funston. 
Moses King, First Lieutenant, O. R. C., United States Army, to Camp Grant. 
Lawrence E. Knight, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Sherman. 
Edward C. Knox, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Funston. 
John W. Knox, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Dix. 
Azzie B. Koger, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Reidsville, N C, to Camp Grant 
Linwood G. Koger, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Charles E. Lane, Jr., First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
David A. Lane, Jr., First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C. to Camp Dlx. 
Frank L. Lane, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Houston, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Benton R. Latimer, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Warrenton, Georgia, to Camp Dodge. 
Ernest W. Latson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Jacksonville, Fla., to Camp Dix. 
Paige I. Lancaster, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Hampton, Va., to Camp Upton. 
Oscar G. Lawless, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, New Orleans, La., to Camp Grant. 
Samuel Lawson, Second Lieutenant, National Army, Philadelphia, Pa., to Camp Dix. 
Wilfred W. Lawson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Grant. 
George E. Lee, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
George W. Lee, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Memphis, Tenn., to Camp Meade, 
Lawrence A. Lee, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Hampton, Virginia, to Camp Upton. 
John E. Leonard, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Meade. 
Garrett M. Lewis, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, San Antonio, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Henry O. Lewis, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Boston, Mass., to Camp Upton. 
Everett B. Liggins, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Austin, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Victor C. Lightfoot, Second Lieut, O. R. C, South Pittsburg, Tenn., to Camp Grant. 
John Q. LIndsey, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Redden L. Linton, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Boston, Georgia, to Camp Grant. 
Qlenda W. Locust, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Sealy, Tenn., to Camp Funston. 
Aldon L. Logan, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Lawrence, Kansas, to Camp Funston. 



COMMISSIONED AT FORT DES MOINES 477 

J^mes B. Lomack, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, National Guard, D. C, to Camp Meadr. 
Howard H. Long, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
James B. Lomack, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, National Guard, D. C, to Camp Meado. 
Victor Long, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Lonnle W. Lott, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Austin, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Charles H. Love, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Atlanta, Georgia, to Camp Grant. 
Edgar A. Ixjve, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Baltimore, Md., to Camp Meade. 
Frank W. Love, Captain, 0. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 
George B. Love, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Greensboro, N. C, to Camp Grant. 
John W. Love, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Baltimore, Md., to Camp Dix. 
Joseph Lowe, Captain, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Sherman. 
Walter Lowe, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, St. Louis, Mo., to Camp Dlx. 
Charles C. Luck, Jr., Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, San Marcus, Texas, to Camp Funslon. 
Walter Lyons, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Grant. 
Harry J. Mack, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Cheney, Pa., to Camp Dlx. 
Amos B. Madison, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Omaha, Nebr., to Camp Dodge. 
Edgar F. Malone, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dlx. 
Edgar O. Malone, Captain, O. R. C, U. S., Army, to Camp Sherman. 
Earl W. Mann, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Champaign, 111., to Camp Dodge. 
Vance H. Marchbanks, Captain, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Meade. 
Leon F. Mar.sh, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Berkeley, Cal., to Camp Grant. 
Alfred E. Marshall, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Greenwood, S. C, to Camp Dix. 
Cyrus W. Marshall, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Baltimore, Md., to Camp Meade. 
Cuby Martin, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Joseph H. Martin, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Eric P. Mason, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Glddlngs, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Denis McG. Matthews. First Lieut., National Army, Los Angeles, Cal., to Camp Grant. 
Joseph E. Matthews, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Cleburne, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Anderson N. May, Captain, O. R. C, Atlanta, Georgia, to Camp Dodge. 
Walter H. Mazyck, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Peter McCall, Captain, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Milton A. McCrlmmon, Captain, 0. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Meade. 
Robert A. McEwen. Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, East St. Louis, 111., to Camp Dodge. 
Osceola E. McKalne, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Upton. 
James E. McKey, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Meade. 
Carey McLane, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Grant. 
Archie McLee. First Lieutenant, O. R. C, New York, N. Y., to Camp Upton. 
Leonard W. McLeod, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Hampton, Virginia, to Camp Upton. 
Albert McRevnolds, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Meade. 
Marshall Meadows, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Array, to Camp Dodge. 
Louis R. Mehlinger, Captain, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Louis R. Middleton, First Lieutenant. 0. R. C, Washington, D. C. to Camp Uptn.i. 
Benjamin H. Mills, First Lieutenant, O. R. C. U. S. Army, to Camp Dlx. 
Harry W. Mills, Captain, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Grant. 
Warren N. Mins, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Dlx. 
J Wardlaw Mitchell, Second Lieut., O. R. C, Milledgevllle, Ga.. to Camp Dod.!:;e. 
Pinkney L Mitchell, Second Lieutenant. O. R. C, Austin, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
John H. Mltcherson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dix. 
Ralph E Mlzell, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Champaign, Illinois, to Camp Grant. 
Hubert M. Moman, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Tougalo, Miss., to Cainp Funston. 
John M. Moore, First Lieutenant, O. R. C. Merldan, Miss., to Camp funston 
Loring B. Moore, Second Lieutenant. O. R. C, Brunswick, Ga., to Camp Meade. 
Ellas A. Morris. First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Helena, Ark., to Camp Dodge. 
Thomas E. Morris, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army to Camp Upton 
James B. Morris, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Des Moines Iowa, to Camp Dodge. 
Cleveland Morrow, First Lieutenant. National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Dix. 
Henry Morrow, First lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Dix. 
Abraham Mors^, First Lieutenant. National Arm.v U. S Army, to Camp Upton^ 
Benjamin H. Mosbv, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, St. Loul.s, Mo., to Camp Funston. 
Benedict Mosley, Fi'rst Lieutenant. 0. R, C.. United States Army, to Camp Gran^. 
Scott A. Moyer, Second Lieutenant. National Arn.y U S. 4^7> • „%a^^"P„^**- 
Albert C. Murdaugh, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Columbia, S. C, to Camp nix. 



478 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Alonzo Myers, Captain, O. R. C, Philadelphia, Pa., to Camp Dix. 
Thomas J. Narclsse, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Jeanerette, Louisiana, to Camp Grant. 
Earl H. Nash, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Atlanta, Ga., to Camp Dodge. 
Homer G. Neely, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Palestine, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Gurney E. Nelson, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Greensboro, N. C, to Camp Grant. 
"William F. Nelson, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Atlanta, Ga., to Camp Dodge. 
William S. Nelson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade, 
James P. Nobles, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Upton. 
Grafton S. Norman, First Lieut., National Army, Atlanta, Georgia, to Camp Dodge, 
Richard M. Norrls, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Array, to Camp Funston. 
Ambrose B. Nutt, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Cambridge, Mass., to Camp Upton. 
Benjamin L. Ousley, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Tougaloo, Miss., to Camp Funston. 
Charles W. Owens, Captain, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Charles G. Owings, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Norfolk, Va., to Camp Upton. 
William W. Oxley, First Lieut., National Army, Cambridge, Mass., to Camp Upton. 
Wilbur E. Pannell, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Stanton, Va., to Camp Upton. 
Charles S. Parker, Second Lieut., National Army, Spokane, Wash., to Camp Dodge. 
Walter E. Parker, Second Lieutenant, National Army, Little Rock, Ark., to Camp Dix. 
Clemmie C. Parks, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Ft. Scott, Kans., to Camp Funston. 
Adam E. Patterson, Captain, National Army, Chicago, Illinois, to Camp Dodge. 
Himphrey C. Patton, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Dix. 
Clarence H. Payne, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Chicago, 111., to Camp Grant. 
William D. Peeks, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dix. 
Robert R. Penn., First Lieutenant, O. R. C, New York, N. Y., to Camp Upton. 
Marlon R. Perry, Second Lieutenant, G. R. C, Pine Bluff, Ark., to Camp Funston. 
Hanson A. Person, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Wynne, Ark., to Camp Sherman. 
Harry B. Peters, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Atlanta, Georgia, to Camp Grant. 
James H. Peyton, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Montgomery, Alabama, to Camp Dodge. 
Joseph Phillips, Captain, O. R. C, Columbus, Ohio, to Camp Sherman. 
David A. Pierce, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C., Clarksville, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Harrison J. Pinkett, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Omaha, Nebr., to Camp Dodge. 
James C. Pinkston, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Funston. 
Percival R. Piper, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Dix. 
Anderson F. Pitts, First Lieutenant, O. R. C., Chicago, 111., to Camp Grant, 
Fisher Pride, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dix. 
Herman W. Porter, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Cambridge, Mass., to Camp Upton, 
James C. Powell, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D, C, to Camp Meade. 
Wade H. Powell, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Atlanta, Georgia, to Camp Dodge. 
William J. Powell, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Chicago, 111., to Camp Grant. 
Gloucester A. Price, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Ft. Meyer, Fla., to Camp Upton. 
John F. Pritchard, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Grant. 
Henry H. Proctor, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Atlanta, Georgia, to Camp Dodge. 
John H. Purnell, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Trappe, Md., to Camp Dix. 
Washington H. Racks, Second Lieut., National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Grant. 
Howard D. Queen, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Funston. 
Richard R. Queen, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Harold L. Quivers, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
John E. Raiford, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Atlanta, Ga,, to Camp Meade. 
Hazel L. Raine, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Sherman. 
Fred D. Ramsey, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Wedgefleld, S. C, to Camp Upton. 
James O. Redmon, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Newton, Iowa, to Camp Dodge. 
Charles G. Reed, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Charleston, S. C, to Camp Sherman. 
Rufus Reed, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Funston. 
Lightfoot H. Reese, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Newman, Ga., to Camp Grant. 
William L. Reese, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Bennetsville, S. C, to Camp Meade. 
Robert S. Reid, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Newman, Ga., to Camp Grant. 
Samuel Reld, Captain, National Army, United States Army, to Camp Funston. 
Adolph Reyes, Second Lieutenant, National Army, Philadelphia, Pa., to Camp Dix. 
Elijah Reynolds, Captain, National Army, United States Army, to Camp Meade. 
John F. Rice, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Chicago, Illinois, to Camp Dodge. 
Douglas C. Richardson, Second Lieut, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Harry D. Richardson, First Lieut., National Army, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 



COM.AIISSIONED AT FORT DES MOINES 479 

I.eonard H. Richardson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Oakland Cal., to Camp Funston. 
Maceo A. Richmond, Second Lieutenant, . R. C, Des Moines, Iowa, to Camp Dodge. 
Francis E. Rivers, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, New Haven, Conn., to Camp Upton. 
Marlon C. Rhoten, First Lieut., National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Meade. 
Charles E. Roberts, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Atlantic City* N. J., to Camp DIx. 
Clyde Roberts, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Grant. 
Edward Robertson, Second Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to C-amp Meade. 
Charles W. Robinson, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Cleveland, Ohio, to Camp Sherman. 
George C. Robinson First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Atlanta, Ga., to Camp Dodge. 
Peter L. Robinson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
William W. Robinson, First Lieut., National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Sherman. 
Julian P. Rodgers, First Lieut., National Army, Montgomery, Ala., to Camp Dodge. 
John W. Rowe, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Danville, Ky., to' Camp Grant. 
Thomas Rucker, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dlx. 
Edward P. Rudd, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, New York City, to Camp Upton. 
Mallalleu W. Rush, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Atlanta, Ga., to Camp Dodge. 
John Russell, Captain, National Army, United States Army, to Camp Upton. 
Louis H. Russell, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, New York, N. Y., to Camp Upton. 
Earl Ryder, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Springfield, 111., to Camp Grant. 
Chester Sanders, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Meade. 
Joseph B. Sanders, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Walter R. Sanders, Captain, 0. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Sherman. 
Clifford A. Sandrldge, Captain, National Army, United States Army, to Camp Dlx. 
Lorin O. Sanford, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Upton. 
Elliott D. Saunders, Second Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Array, to Camp Dodge. 
Walker L. Savoy, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Elmer P. Sawyer, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Providence, R. I., to Camp Upton. 
George S. Schuyler, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Dix. 
James E. Scott, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
James E. Scott, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Hampton, Va., to Camp Upton. 
Joseph H. Scott, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Darlington, S. C, to Camp Dix. 
Walter W. Scott, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Brooksville, Miss., to Camp Funston. 
William F. Scott, Captain, 0. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Upton. 
Fletcher Sewell, Captain, National Army, United States Army, to Camp Meade. 
Shermont R. Sewell, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Charles A. Shaw, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Atlanta, Ga., to Camp Dodge. 
Warren B. Shelton, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Hot Springs, Ark., to Camp Sherman. 
Robert T, Shobe, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Funston. 
Hal Short, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Iowa City, Iowa, to Camp Dodge. 
Harry W. Short, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Iowa City, Iowa, to Camp Dodge. 
Ogbon N. Simmons, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Waldo, Fla., to Camp Dix. 
Richard Simmons, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dlx. 
William E. Simmons, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Burlington, Vt., to Camp Upton. 
Austin Simras, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Dearien, Ga., to Camp Dodge. 
John H. Slrams, Jr., First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Jacksonville, Fla., to Camp Dix. 
-Abraham L. Simpson, Captain, O. R. C, Louisville, Ky., to Camp Funston. 
I,awrence Simpson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Chicago, 111., to Camp Grant. 
William R. Smalls, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Manassas, Va., to Camp Dlx. 
Daniel Smith, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dlx. 
Enos B. Smith, Second Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Meade. 
Ernest Smith, Second Lieutenant, National Army, Philadelphia, Pa., to Camp Dlx. 
Fairel N. Smith, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Orangeburg, S. C, to Camp Upton. 
Joseph W. Smith, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C. Concord, S. C. to Camp Meade. 
Oscar H. Smith, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Meade. 
Pitman E. Smith, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Columbus, Ohio, to Camp Sherman. 
Russell Smith, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dix. 
Walter H. Smith, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Chattanooga, Tenn., to Camp Grant. 
Levi E. Southe, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Chicago, 111., to Camp Grant 
Carlos Sowards, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Upton. 
Edward W. Spearman, Captain, O. R. C. United States Army to Camp Upton. 
Walter R St Clair, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Philadelphia. Pa., to Camp Dix. 
Llovd A Stafford, Captain, 0. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dix. 



480 SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 

Moody Staten, Captain, O. R. C, United Slates Arin-y, to Camp Upton. 
Percy H. Steele, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Waddell C. Steele, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Grant. 
Grant Stewart, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dix. 
Robert K. Stephens, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Sherman. 
Leon Stewart, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Grant. 
Thomas R. Stewart, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Fort Wayne, Ind., to Camp Grant. 
William A. Stith, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Meade. 
James M. Stockett, Jr., First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Providence, R. I., to Camp Upton. 
Wilbur F. Stonestreet, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Topeka, Kansas, to Camp Funston. 
Daniel T. Taylor, Second Lieut., National Army, United States Army, to Camp Grant. 
Hannibal B. Taylor, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Guthrie, Okla., to Camp Funston. 
Pearl E. Taylor, First Lieutenant, National Army, St. Louis, Mo., to Camp Dix. 
Benjamin F. Thomas, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Grant. 
Bob Thomas, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Meade. 
Vincent B. Thomas, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Charles M. Thompson, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Columbia, S. C, to Camp Dix. 
Joseph Thompson, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Grant. 
Pierce McN. Thompson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Albany, Ga., to Camp Dodge. 
Richard C. Thompson, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Harrisburg, Pa., to Camp Dix. 
Roliver T. Thompson, First Lieut., National Army, Houston, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
William H. Thompson, First Lieut., National Army, Jacksonville, Fla., to Camp Dix. 
William H, Thompson, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Sherman. 
James W. Thorton, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, West Raleigh, N. C, to Camp Grant. 
Leslie J. Thurman, Captain, O. R. C, United States Array, to Camp Upton. 
Samuel J. Tipton, Captain, National Army, United States Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Frederick H. Townsend, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Newport, R. I., to Camp Upton. 
Anderson Trapp, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Charles A. Trlbbett, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, New Haven, Conn., to Camp Upton. 
Joseph B. Trigg, Captain, O. R. C, Syracuse, N. Y., to Camp Dix. 
Archibald R. Tuck, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Oberlln, Ohio, to Camp Sherman. 
Victor J. Tulane, First Lieutenant, Montgomery, Ala., to Camp Dodge. 
William J. Trunbow, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Upton. 
Allen Turner, First Lieutenant, National Army, United States Army, to Camp Dix. 
Edward Turner, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Omaha, Nebr., to Camp Dodge. 
Samuel Turner, Second Lieut., National Army, United States Army, to Camp Upton. 
Shadrach W. Upshaw, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Austin, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Ferdinand S. Upshur, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Philadelphia, Pa., to Camp Dix. 
George L. Vaughn, First Lieutenant, National Army, St. Louis, Mo., to Camp Dix. 
Austin T. Walden, Captain, 0. R. C, Macon, Ga., to Camp Dix. 
John P. Walker, First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Lewis W. Wallace, Captain, 0. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Funston. 
Thomas H. Walters, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, New York, N. Y., to Camp Upton. 
Robert L. Ward, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Detroit, Mich., to Camp Sherman. 
James H. N, Waring, Jr., First Lieut., 0. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 
Genoa S. Washington, Captain, 0. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Upton. 
George G. Washington, Second Lieut., National Army, U. S. Army to Camp Funston. 
Bolivar E. Watkins, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, St. Louis, Mo., to Camp Funston. 
Alstyne M. Watson, Second Lieut., O, R. C, Tallapoosa, Ga., to Camp Grant. 
Baxter W. Watson, Second Lt., National Army, United States Army, to Camp Funston. 
I,ouis L. Watson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Dix. 
William H. Weare, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Funston. 
Walter T. Webb, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Baltimore, Md., to Camp Meade. 
Carter W. Wesley, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C., Houston, Tex., to Camp Funston. 
Harry Wheeler, First Lieut., National Army, United States Army, to Camp Meade. 
Chauncey D. White, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C., Mathews, Va., to Camp Upton. 
Emmett White, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Grant. 
Journee W. White, Second Lieut., National Army, Los Angeles, Cal., to Camp Dix. 
Lorenzo C. White, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Hampton, Va., to Camp Upton. 
Johnson C. Whittaker, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Lawrence, Kans., to Camp Funston. 
Horace G. Wilder Second Lieutenant, National Army, United States, to Camp Dix. 
Arthur R. Williams, Second Lieut, O. R. C, Edwards, Miss., to Camp Funston. 



COMMISSIONED AT FORT DES MOINES 481 

Everett B. Williams, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Syracuse, N. Y., to Camp Dlx. 
Gus Williams, First Lieutenant, National Army, United States Army, to Camp Upton. 
James B. Williams, First Lieut., National Army, Baltimore, Md., to Camp Meade. 
John Williams, Second Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Arm v. to Camp Grant. 
Oscar H. Williams, Second Lieut., National Armv, New York.N. Y., to Camp Upton 
Richard A, Williams, Captain, O. R. C, Lawnside, N. J., to Camp Dii. 
Robert G. Williams, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Sherman. 
Seymour E. Williams, Second Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Muakogee.Okla., to Camp Funston. 
Major Williams, Second Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Walter B. Williams, Captain, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Upton. 
WiUlara H. Williams, Captain, O. R. C, United States Armv, to Camp Grant. 
Elmore S. Willie, First Lieut., O. R. C, U. S. Army, to Camp Sherman. 
Harry E. Wilson, First Lieutenant, O. R. C, Des Moines, Iowa, to Camp Dodge. 
John E. Wilson, First Lieut, National Army, Leavenworth, Kans., to Camp Funston. 
William H. Wilson, Second Lieut., O. R. C, Greensboro, N. C, to Camp Grant. 
Meredith B. Wily, First IJeut., 0. R. C, El Paso, Texas, to Camp Funston. 
Christopher C. Wimbish, First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Atlanta, Ga. to Camp Dodge. 
Hugh H. Wimbish, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Atlanta, Ga., to Camp Meade. 
Rolland T. Wlnstead, Second Lieut., 0. R. C, Rocky Mount, N. C, to Camp Grant. 
George W. Wln.ston, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Dodge. 
Ernest M. Wood, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Mebane, N. C, to Camp Grant. 
Benjamin F. Wright, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, New York, N. Y., to Camp Upton- 
Elbert S. Wright, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Baldwin, Kansas, to Camp Funston. 
John Wynn, Second Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Funston. 
Edward York, Captain, O. R. C, United States Army, to Camp Upton. 
Charles Young First Lieutenant, National Army, U. S. Army, to Camp Dodge. 
William A. Young, Second Lieutenant, O. R. C, Sumter, S. C, to Camp Dlx. 
Charles G. Young First Lieutenant, 0. R. C, Washington, D. C, to Camp Meade. 

The above officers do not represent the full number of Colored men who were 
commissioned In the United States Army, however. In the series of Officers' Training 
Camps which were conducted after the draftees were called to service, 107 were 
commissioned in Infantry from various camps, and 33 In Artillery from Camp Zach- 
ary Taylor, Louisville, Kentucky. 



482 



SCOTT'S OFFICIAL HISTORY 



(B) 

Colored Chaplains in the United States Army When the Armistice was Signed, 

November 11, 1918 



Name. 



Denomination. 



Assigned tr — 



Ixjuls A. Carter, 
O. J. W. Scott, 
Alexander W. Thomas, 
George W. Prioleau, 
WllUam S. Braddon, 
John S. Hawkins, 
Arrington S. Helm, 
Charles FL Winthrop, 
Uriah J. Robinson, 
Allen O. Newman, 
George S. Starlc, 
Edgar A. Love 
A- E. Rankin, 
Cornelius G. Parks, 
R O. Woolfolk, 
George A. Singleton, 
Henry M. ColUns, 
Lincoln C. Jenkins, 
Julian L. Brown, 
Hugh A. Rogers, 
Elbert S. M. Dinsmore, 
K M. M. Wright, 
Clifford L. Miller, 
John T. demons, 
Matthew M. Jefferson, 
John W. Oveltrea, 
Benjamin C. Robeson, 
Jaxnes T. Simpson, 
Thomas W. Wallace, 
Charles T. Isom, 
Mqnroe S. Caver, 
George A. Thomas, 
Richard A. Greene, 
William T. Amlger, 
Alfred G. Casper, 
John A. HiU, 
Blair T. Hunt, 
Noah W. WilUams, 
Frank C. Shirley, 
George A. Rosedom, 
Thomas E. Davis, 
Matthew W. Clair, Jr., 
Ijewis A. McGee, 
John W. E. Bowen, Jr., 
Ftank W. Brown, 
EUis A. Christian, 
Eugene H. Hamilton, 
Prederlck D. L. McDonald, 
A. Huntington Hatwoood, 
Max Yergan, 
Charles Y. Trigg, 
Needham M. Means, 
James B. Adams, 
Robert G. Morris, 
Robert W. Jefferson, 
George G. Parker, 
Isaac C Snowden, 
Frank R. Arnold, 
William Y. Bell, 
Berryman H. Johnson, 



Baptist, 

Methodist, 

Methodist, 

Methodist, 

Baptist, 

Baptist, 

Presbyterian, 

Baptist, 

Baptist, 

Presbyterian, 

Methodist, 

Presbyterian, 

Methodist, 

Methodist, 

Methodist, 

Methodist, 

Baptist, 

Baptist, 

Baptist, 

Methodist, 

EJpiscopal, 

Congregational, 

Congregational, 

Methodist, 

Methodist, 

Methodist, 

Methodist, 

Zion Methodist^ 

Methodist, 

Baptist, 

Methodist, 

Methodist, 

Baptist, 

Methodist, 

Methodist, 

Baptist, 

Methodist, 

Presbyterian, 

Baptist, 

Methodist, 

Methodist, 

Methodist, 

Methodist, 

Baptist, 

Episcopal, 

Congregational, 

Methodist, 

Methodist, 

Congregational, 

Methodist, 

Methodist, 

Baptist, 

Methodist, 

Baptist, 

Methodist, 

Methodist, 

Methodist, 

Methodist, 

Baptist, 



9th U. S. Cavalry. 

10th U. S. Cavalry. 

24th Infantry. 

25th Infantry. 

(Former Nat'l Guard) 370th Inf., A. E. F. 

(Former Nafl Guard) 151st Inf., A. E. F. 

(Former Nat'l Guard) Camp Upton, N. Y. 

(Former Nat'l Guard) 372nd Inf., A. E. P. 

365 Infantry, A. E. F. 

366th Infantry, A. E. F. 

367th Infantry, A. E. F. 

367th Infantry. A. E. P. 

349th Field Artillery, A E. F. 

350th Field Artillery. 

317th Engineers, A. E. F. 
309th Labor Battalion. 
310th Labor Battalion. 
302nd Stevedore Regiment. 

314th Labor Battalion. 

Engineei' Service Battalion, A. E. F. 

506th Service BattaUon, Engrs., A. E. F. 

370th Infantry, A. E. F. 

American Expeditionary Forces. 

American Expeditionary Forces. 

American Expeditionary Forces. 

American Expeditionary Forces. 

American Expeditionary Forces. 

157th Depot Brigade, Camp Gordon, Ga. 

Camp Taylor, Kentucky. 

Camp Hill, Newport News, Virginia. 

Camp Taylor, Kentucky. 

Camp Hill, Virginia. 

Camp Stuart, Virginia. 

Camp Stuart, Virginia. 

Camp Stuart, Virginia. 

Camp Meade, Maryland, 11th Division. 

Camp Meade, Maryland. 

American Expeditionary Forces. 



Camp Lee, Virginia, 
Camp Travis, Texas. 



Camp Taylor, Kentucky. 
Camp Lee, Virginia. 
Camp Alexander, Virginia, 
Camp Travis, Texas. 
Camp Lee, Virginia. 
Camp Meade, Maryland. 
Camp Sevier, South Carolina. 
Camp Jackson, South Carolina. 
25th Infantry, Nogales, Arizona. 
Camp Sherman, Ohio. 
Port Newark, New Jersey. 
Camp Lee, Virginia. 



THE TREATY OP PEACE 

Official Summary of the Covenant of the League of Nations and Terms 
Imposed Upon Germany as Decided by the Peace Conference 

The official summary of the treaty of peace, given to the public on May 
7, 1919, at the time the text of the treaty was handed to the German peace 
delegates, was as follows: 

The preamble names as parties of the one part the United States, the British 
empire, France, Italy, and Japan, described as the five allied and associated powers, and 
Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Cuba, Ecuador, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, the Hedjaz, 
Honduras, Liberia, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Roumania, Serbia, Siam, 
Czecho-Slovakia, and Uruguay, who with the five above are described as the allied and 
associated powers, and on the other part Germany. 

It states that: Bearing in mind that on the request of the then imperial German 
government an armistice was granted on November 11, 1918, by the five allied and 
associated powers in order that a treaty of peace might be concluded with her, and 
whereas the allied and associated powers being equally desirous that the war in which 
they were successfully involved, directly or indirectly, and which originated in the 
declaration of war by Austria-Hungary on July 28, 1914, against Serbia, the declara- 
tion of war by Germany against Russia on August 1, 1914, and against France on 
August 3, 1914, and in the invasion of Belgium, should be replaced by a firm, just, and 
durable peace, the plenipotentiaries having communicated their full powers found in 
good and due form have agreed as follows: 

From the coming into force of the present treaty, the state of war will terminate. 
From the moment and subject to the provisions of this treaty official relatione with 
Germany, and with each of the German states, will be resumed by the allied and 
associated pQwers. 

The League of Nations 

SECTION I 

The covenant of the league of nations constitutes section 1 of the peace treaty, 
which places upon the league many specific duties in addition to its general duties. 

It may question Germany at any time for a violation of the neutralized zone east 
of the Ehine as a threat against the world's peace. 

It will appoint three of the five members of the Saar commission, oversee its 
regime, and carry out the plebiscite. 

It will appoint the high commissioner of Danzig, guarantee the independence of 
the free city, and arrange for treaties betwen Danzig and Germany and Poland. 

It will work out the mandatory system to be applied to the former German 
colonies, and act as a final court in part of the plebiscites of the Belgian-German 
frontier and in disputes as to the Kiel canal, and decide certain of the economic and 
financial problems. 

An international conference on labor is to be held in October under its direction, 
and another on the international control of ports, waterways, and railways is fore- 
shadowed. 

The members of the league will be the signatories of the covenant and other states 
invited to accede, who must lodge a declaration of accession without reservation within 
two months. 

A new state, dominion, or colony may be admitted provided its admission is agreed 
to by two-thirds of the assembly. 

A state may withdraw upon giving two years' notice, if it has fulfilled all its 
international obligations. 

483 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 

SECTION 11 

A permanent secretariat will be established at the seat of the league, which will be 
at Geneva. 

Assembly — The assembly will consist of representatives of the members of the 
league, and will meet at stated intervals. Voting will be by states. Each member will 
have one vote and not more than three representatives. 

Council — iThe council will consist of representatives of the five great allied powers, 
together with representatives of four members selected by the assembly from time to 
time; it may co-operate with additional states and will meet at least once a year. 
Members not represented will be invited to send a representative when questions 
affecting their interests are discussed. Voting will be by states. Each state will have 
one vote and not more than one representative. Decisions taken by the assembly and 
council must be unanimous, except in regard to procedure and in certain cases specified 
in the covenant and in the treaty, where decisions will be by a majority. 

Armaments — The council will formulate plans for a reduction of armaments for 
consideration and adoption. These plans will be revised every ten years. Once they 
are adopted, no member must exceed the armaments text without the concurrence of 
the council. All members will exchange full information as to armaments and programs, 
and a permanent commission will advise the council on military and naval questions. 

Preventing of war — Upon any war or threat of war the council will meet to consider 
what common action shall be taken. Members are pledged to submit matters of dispute 
to arbitration or inquiry and not to resort to war until three months after the award. 

Members agree to carry out an arbitral award and not to go to war with any 
party to the dispute which complies with it; if a member fails to carry out the award 
the council will propose the necessary measures. 

The council will formulate plans for the establishment of a permanent court of 
international justice to determine international disputes or to give advisoiy opinions. 

Members who do not submit their cases to arbitration must accept the jurisdiction 
of the assembly. If the council, less the parties to the dispute, is unanimously agreed 
upon the rights of it, the members agree that they will not go to war with any 
party to the dispute which complies with its recommendations. In this case a recom- 
mendation by the assembly, concurred in by all its members represented, less the 
parties to the dispute will have the force of a unanimous recommendation by the council. 

In either case if the necessary agreement cannot be secured the members reserve 
the right to take such action as may be necessary for the maintenance of right and 
justice. 

Members resorting to war in disregard of the covenant will immediately be debarred 
from all intercourse with other members. The council will in such cases consider what 
military or naval action can be taken by the league collectively for the protection of 
the covenants and will afford facilities to members co-operating in this enterprise. 

Validity of Treaties — All treaties or international engagements concluded after the 
institution of the league will be registered with the secretariat and published. 

The assembly may from time to time advise members to reconsider treaties which 
have become inapplicable or involve danger of peace. 

The covenant abrogates all obligations between members inconsistent with its 
terms, but nothing in it shall affect the validity of international engagements, such as 
treaties of arbitration or regional understandings, like the Monroe doctrine, for securing 
the maintenance of peace. 

The Mandatory System — The tutelage of nations not yet able to stand by themselves 
Trill be intrusted to advanced nations who are best fitted to undertake it. 

The covenant recognizes three different stages of development, requiring different 
kinds of mandatories: 

Communities like those belonging to the Turkish empire, which can be provisionally 
recognized as independent, subject to advice and assistance from a mandatory in whose 
selection they would be alloweKi a voice. 

484 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 

Communities like those of Central Africa, to be administered by the mandatory, 
under conditions generally approved by the members of the league, where equal oppor- 
tunities for trade will be allowed to all members; certain abuses, such as trade in 
slaves, arms, and liquor, will be prohibited, and the construction of military and naval 
bases and the introduction of compulsory military training will be disallowed. 

Other communities, such as Southwest Africa and the south Pacific islands, but 
administered under the laws of the mandatory as integral portions of ita territory. In 
every case the mandatory will render an annual report, and the degree of its authority 
will be defined. 

Conditions of World Labor 

Subject to and in accordance vi-ith the provisions of international conventions 
existing, or hereafter to be agreed upon, the members of the league will, in general, 
endeavor through the international organization established by the labor convention to 
secure and maintain fair conditions of labor for men, women, and children in their 
own countries, and other countries, and undertake to secure just treatment of the 
native inhabitants of territories under their control; they will intrust the league with 
the general supervision over the execution of agreements for the suppression of traflBc 
in women and children, etc.; and the control of the trade in arms and ammunition with 
countries in which control is necessary; they will make provision for freedom of com- 
munications and transit and equitable treatment for commerce of all members of the 
league, with special reference to the necessities of regions devastated during the war; 
and they will endeavor to take steps for international prevention and control of disease. 

International bureaus and commissions already established will be placed under 
the league, as well as those to be established in the future. 

Amendments to the covenant will take effect when ratified by the council and by 
a majority of the assembly. 

New Limits for Oermany 

Boundarlee of Germany — Germany cedes to France Alsace-Lorraine, 5,600 square 
miles, it to be southwest, and to Belgium two small districts between Luxemburg and 
Holland totaling 382 square mUes. 

She also cedes to Poland the southeastern tip of SUesia, beyond and including 
Oppeln, most of Posen, and West Prussia, 27,686 square miles, East Prussia being 
isolated from the main body by a part of Poland. 

She loses sovereignty over the northeasternmost tip of East Prussia, forty square 
miles north of the river Memel, and the internationalized areas about Danzig, 729 
square miles, and the basin of the Saar, 738 square miles, between the western border 
of the Ehenish Palatinate of Bavaria and the southeast corner of Luxemburg. 

The Danzig area consists of the V between the Nogat and Vistula rivers made 
a W by the addition of a similar V on the west, including the city of Danzig. 

The southeastern third of East Prussia and the area between East Prussia and the 
Vistula north of latitude 53 degrees 3 minutes is to have its nationality determined by 
popular vote, 5,785 square miles, as is to be the case in part of Schleswig, 2,787 square 
miles. 

Recovered Lands 

SECTION III 

Belgium — Germany is to consent to the abrogation of the treaties of 1839, by 
which Belgium was established as a neutral state, and to agree in advance to any 
convention with which the allied and associated powers may determine to replace 
them. 

Germany is to recognize the full sovereignty of Belgium over the contested territory 
of Moronet and over part of Prussian Morenet, and to renounce in favor of Belgium all 
rights of the circles of Eupen and Malmedy, the inhabitants of which are to be entitled, 
within six months, to protest against this change of sovereignty, either in whole or in 
part, the final decision to be reserved to the league of nations. 

A commission is to settle the details of the frontier, and various regulations for 
change of nationality are laid down. 

485 



TEE TREATY OF PEACE 

liuxemlourg — Germany renounces her various treaties and conventions with the Grand 
Duchy of Luxemburg, recognizes that it ceased to be a part of the German ZoUverein 
from January 1, last, renounces all right of exploitation of the railroads, adheres to 
the abrogation of its neutrality, and accepts in advance any international agreement 
as to it, reached by the allied and associated powers. 

Left Bank of the Rhine — As provided in the military (armistice) clauses, Germany 
will not maintain any fortifications or armed forces less than fifty kilometers to the 
east of the Rhine, hold any maneuvers, nor maintain any works to facilitate mobilization. 

In case of violation, ' ' she shall be regarded as committing a hostile act against the 
powers who sign the present treaty and as intending to disturb the peace of the 

world. ' ' 

By virtue of the present treaty, Germany shall be bound to respond to any request 
for an explanation which the council of the league of nations may think it necessary 
to address to her. 

Alsace-Lorraine — After recognition of the moral obligation to repair the wrong 
done in 1871 by Germany to France and the people of Alsace-Lorraine, the territories 
ceded to Germany by the treaty of Frankfort are restored to France with their frontiers 
as before 1871, to date from the signing of the armistice, and to be free of all public 

debts. 

Citizenship is regulated by detailed provisions distinguishing those who are imme- 
diately restored to full French citizenship, those who have to make formal applications 
therefor, and those for whom naturalization is open after three years. 

The last named class includes German residents in Alsace-Lorraine, as distinguished 
from those who acquire the position of Alsace-Lorrainers as defined in the treaty. 

All public property and all private property of German ex-sovereigns passes to 
France without payment or credit, France is substituted for Germany as regards owner- 
ship of the railroads and rights over concessions of tramways. 

The Rhine bridges pass to France with the obligation for their upkeep. 

For five years manufactured products of Alsace-Lorraine will be admitted to 
Germany free of duty to a total amount not exceeding in any year the average of the 
three years preceding the war, and textile materials may be imported from Germany 
to Alsace-Lorraine and re-exported free of duty. Contracts for electric power from the 
right bank must be continued for ten years. 

For seven years, with possible extension to ten, the ports of Kehae and Strasbourg 
shall be administered as a single unit by a French administrator appointed and supervised 
by the Central Rhine commission. 

Property rights will be safeguarded in both ports and equality of treatment as 
respects traffic assured the nationals, vessels, and goods of every country. 

Contracts between Alsace-Lorrainers and Germans are maintained, except for 
France's right to annul on grounds of public interest judgments of courts held in 
certain classes of eases, while in others a judicial exequatur is first required. 

Political condemnations during the war are null and void and the obligation to repay 
war fines is established as in other parts of allied territory. 

Various clauses adjust the general provisions of the treaty to the special conditions 
of Alsace-Lorraine, certain matters of execution being left to conventions to be made 
between France and Germany. 

Tlie Saax Valley Question 

The Saar — ^In compensation for the destruction of coal mines for northern France 
and as payment on account of reparation, Germany cedes to France full ownership of 
the coal mines of the Saar basin with their subsidiaries, accessories, and facilities. 

Their value will be estimated by the reparation commission and credited against that 
account. The French rights will be governed by German law in force at the armistice 
excepting war legislation, France replacing the present owners whom Germany under- 
takes to indemnify. France will continue to furnish the present proportion of coal 
for loeal needs and contribute in just proportion to local taxes. 

486 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 

The basin extends from the frontier of Lorraine as reannexed to France north aa far 
aa St. Wendel, including on the west the valley of the Saar as far as Saarkolzbach 
and on the east the town of Uomburg. 

In order to secure the rights and welfare of the population and to guarantee to 
France entire freedom in working the mines, the territory will be governed by a 
commission appointed by the league of nations and consisting of five members, one 
French, one a native inhabitant of the Saar and three representing three different coun- 
tries other than France and Germany. 

The league will appoint a member of the commission as chairman to act as 
executive of the commission. The commission will have all powers of government 
formerly belonging to the German empire. 

Prussia and Bavaria will administer the railroads and other public services and 
have full power to interpret the treaty clauses. 

The local courts will continue, but subject to the commission. Existing German 
legislation will remain the basis of the law, but the commission may make modification 
after consulting a local representative assembly which it will organize. It will have 
the taxing power, but for local purposes only. New taxes must be approved by thia 
assembly. 

Labor legislation will consider the wishes of the local labor organizations and the 
labor program of the league. French and other labor may be freely utilized, the 
former being free to belong to French unions. All rights acquired as to pensions 
and social insurance will be maintained by Germany and the Saar commission. 

There will be no military service, but only a local gendarmerie to preserve order. 

The people will preserve their local assemblies, religious liberties, schools, and 
language, but may vote only for local assemblies. They will keep their present 
nationality except so far as individuals may change it. Those wishing to leave will 
have every facility with respect to their property. 

The territory will form part of the French customs system, with no export tax 
on coal and metallurgical products going to Germany nor on German products enter- 
ing the basin, and for five years no import duties on products of the basin going to 
Germany or German products coming into the basin for local consumption. 

French money may circulate without restriction. After fifteen years a plebiscite 
will be held by communes to ascertain the desires of the population as to continuance 
of the existing regpime under the league of nations, union with France, or union with 
Germany. The right to vote will belong to all inhabitants over 20 resident therein 
at the signature. 

Taking into account the opinions thus expressed, the league will decide the ultimate 
sovereignty. In any portion restored to Germany the German government must buy 
out the French mines at an appraised valuation. 

If the price is not paid within six months thereafter this portion passes finally 
to France. If Germany buys back the mines, the league will determine how much 
of the coal shall be annually sold to France. 

New Nations Recognized 
SECTION IV 

German AuBtrla.— .Germany recognizes the total independence of German-Austria 
in the boundaries traced. 

Czecho-Slovakia.. — Germany recognizes the entire independence of the Czecho- 
slovak state, including the autonomous territory of the Ruthenians south of the 
Carpathians and accepts the frontiers of this state as to be determined, which in the case 
of the German frontier shall follow the frontier of Bohemia in 1914. The usual stipu- 
lations as to acquisition and change of nationality follow, 

Poland— Germany cedes to Poland the greater part of upper Silesia, Posen and the 
province of West Prussia on the left bank of the Vistula. A field boundary commission 
of seven— five representing the allied and associated powers and one each representing 
Poland and Germany-shall be constituted within fifteen days of the peace to deimit 
this boundary. Such special provisions as are neoessary to protect racial, lingniatie, 

487 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 

or religious minority and to protect freedom of transit and equitable treatment oi 
commerce of other nations shall be laid down in a subsequent treaty between the 
five allied and associated powers and Poland. 

East Prussia. — The southern and eastern frontier of East Prussia as sucing (word 
obscure) Poland is to be fixed by plebiscite, the first in the regency of Allenstein between 
the southern frontier of East Prussia and the northern frontier of Regierungsbesirk 
Allenstein, from where it meets the boundary between East and West Prussia to its 
junction with the boundary between the circles of Oletsko and Augersburg, thence 
the northern boundary of Oletsko to its junction with the present frontier, and the 
second in the area comprising the circles of Stuhm and Rosenburg 'and the parts of the 
circles of Marienburg and Marienwerder east of the Vistula. 

In each case German troops and authorities will move out within fifteen days 
of the peace and the territories be placed under an international commiesion of 
five members appointed by the five allied and associated powers, with the particular 
duty of arranging for a free, fair, and secret vote. The commission will report 
the results of the plebiscites to the five powers with a recommendation for the boundary, 
and will terminate its work as soon as the boundary has been laid down and now 
authorities set up. 

The five allied and associated powers will draw up regulations assuring East 
Prussia full and equitable access to and use of the Vistula. A subsequent convention, 
of which the terms will be fixed by the five allied and associated powers, will be entered 
into between Poland,. Germany and Danzig, to assure suitable railroad oommuniea- 
tion across German territory on the right bank of the Vistula between Poland and 
Danzig while Poland shall grant free passage from East Prussia to Germany. 

The northeastern corner of East Prussia, about Memel, is to be ceded by Ger- 
many to the associated powers, the former agreeing to accept the settlement made, 
especially as regards the nationality of the inhabitants. 

Danzig a Free Oity 

Danzig. — Danzig and the District immediately about it is to be constituted into 
the "free city of Danzig," under the guarantee of the league of nations. A high 
commissioner, appointed by the league and president at Danzig shall draw up a oon- 
Btitution in agreement with the duly appointed representatives of the city, and shall 
deal in the first instance with all differences arising between the city and Poland. 

The actual boundaries of the city shall be delimited by a commission appointed 
within six months from the peace and to include three representatives chosen by the 
allied and associated powers and one each by Germany and Poland. 

A convention, the terms of which shall be fixed by the five allied and associated 
powers, shall be concluded between Poland and Danzig, which shall include Danzig 
within the Polish custom frontiers, though a free area in the port; insure to Poland 
the free use of all the city's waterways, docks, and other port facilities, the contro?. 
and administration of the Vistula and the whole through railway systems within 
the city and postal, telegraphic, and telephonic communication between Poland and 
Danzig; provide against discrimination against Poles within the city and place its 
foreign relations and the diplomatic protection of its citizens abroad in charge of 
Poland. 

Denmark. — The frontier between Germany and Denmark will be fixed by the 
self-determination of the population. Ten days from the peace German troops and 
authorities shall evacuate the region north of the line running from the mouth of 
the Schlei south of Kappel, Schleswig, and Friedrichstadt, along the Eider to the 
North sea, south of Tonning; the workmen and soldiers' councils shall be dissolved; 
and the territory administered by an international commission of five, of whom Norway 
and Sweden shall be invited to name two. 

The commission shall insure a free and secret vote in three zones. That between 
the German-Danish frontier and line running south of the Island of Aleen, north of 
Flensburg and south of Tondern to the North sea, north of the Island of Sylt, will vote as 

488 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 

a xxnit within three weeks after the evacuation. Within five weeks after this vote tho 
aeeond zone, whose eouthern boundary runs from the North sea south of the Island of 
Fohr to the Baltic, south of Sygum, will vote by communes. 

Two weeks after that vote the third zone, running to tho limit of evacuation, 
al»o will vote by eommunee. The international commission will then draw a new 
frontier on the baais of these plebiscites and with due regard for geographical and 
economic conditions. Germany will renounce all sovereignty over tho territories 
north of thia line in favor of the associate governments, who will hand them over 
to Denmark. 

Helgoland — The fortifications, military establishments, and harbors of the islands 
of Helgoland and Dune are to be destroyed under the supervision of tho allioe by 
German labor and at Germany's expense. They may not be reconstructed or any 
similar fortification built in the future. 

Bnssla — Germany agrees to respect as permanent and inalienable the indepen- 
dency of all territories which were part of the former Russian empire, to accept 
the abrogation of the Brest-Litovsk and other treaties entered into with tho Maximalist 
government of Russia, to recognize the full force of all treaties entered into by 
the allied and associated powers with states which were a part of the former Russian 
empire, and to recognize the frontiers as determined thereon. 

The allied and associated |)owers formally reserve the right of Russia to obtain 
restitution and reparation on the principles of the present treaty. 

Colonies and Overseas Possessions 

SECTION V 

Outside Europe, Germany renounces all rights, titles, and privileges as to her 
own or her allies' territories to all the allied and associated powers and undertakes 
to accept whatever measures are taken by the five allied powers in relation thereto. 

Colonies and overseas possessions — Germany renounces in favor of the allied and 
associated powers her overseas possessions, with all rights and titles therein. All 
movable and immovable property belonging to the German empire or to any German 
state shall pass to the government exercising authority therein. 

These governments may make whatever provisions seem suitable for the repatria- 
tion of German nationals and as to tho conditions on which German subjects of 
European origin shall reside, hold property, or carry on business. 

Germany undertakes to pay reparation for damage suffered by French nationals 
la the Cameroons or its frontier zone through the acts of German civil and military 
authorities and of individual Germans from Jan. 1, 1900, to Aug. 1, 1914. 

Germany renounces all rights under the convention of Nov. 4, 1911, and Sept. 
29, 1912, and undertakes to pay to France in accordance with an estimate presented 
and approved by the repatriation commission all deposits, credits, advances, etc., 
thereby secured. 

Germany undertakes to accept and observe any provisions by the allied and 
associated powers as to the trade in arms and spirits in Africa, as well as to the 
general act of Berlin of 1885 and tho general act of Brussels of 1890. Diplomatic 
protection to inhabitants of former German colonies is to be given by the govern- 
ments exercising authority. 

China — Germany renounces in favor of China all privileges and indemnities resnlt- 
ing from the Boxer protocol of 1901, and all buildings, wharves, barracks, forts, 
munitions of warships, wireless plants, and other public property except diplomatic 
or consular establishments in the German concessions of Tientsin and Hankow and in 
other Chinese territory except Kiau-Chau, and agrees to return to China, at its own 
expense, all the astronomical instruments seized in 1901. 

China will, however, take no measures for disposal of German property in tho 
legation quarter at Peking without tho consent of the powers signatory to the Boxer 
protoctl. 

489 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 

Germany accepts all abrogation of the concessions at Hankow and Tientsin, China 
agreeing to open them to international use. 

Germany renounces all claims against China or any allied and associated govern- 
ment for the internment or repatriation of her citizens in China and for the seizure 
or liquidation of German interests there since Aug. 1917. 

She renounces in favor of Great Britain her state property in the British con- 
cession at Canton and of France and China jointly of the property of the German 
school in the French concession at Shanghai. 

Slam — Germany recognizes that all agreements between herself and Siam, includ- 
ing the right of extra-territoriality ceased July 22, 1917. All German public property 
except consular and diplomatic premises passes without compensation to Siam, Ger- 
man private property to be dealt with in accordance with the economic clauses. Ger- 
many waives all claims against Siam for the seizure and condemnation of her ships, 
liquidation of her property, or internment of her nationals. 

Liberia — Germany renounces all rights under the international arrangements of 
1911 and 1912 regarding Liberia, more particularly the right to nominate a receiver 
of the customs, and disinterests herself in any further negotiations for the rehabilita- 
tion of Liberia. 

She regards as abrogated all commercial treaties and agreements between her- 
self and Liberia, and recognizes Liberia's right to determine the status and condi- 
tion of the re-establishment of Germans in Liberia. 

Morocco — Germany renounces all her rights, titles and privileges under the act 
of Algeciras and the Franco-German agreements of 1909 and 1911, and under all treaties 
and arrangements with the Sherifian empire. 

She undertakes not to intervene in any negotiations as to Morocco between France 
and other powers, accepts all the consequences of the French protectorate and renounces 
the capitulations. The Sherifian government shall have complete liberty of action 
in regard to German nationals, and all German protected persons shall be subject 
to the common law. 

All movable and immovable German property, including mining rights may be 
sold at public auction, the proceeds to be paid to the Sherifian government and 
deducted from the reparation account. Germany is also required to reliquish her interests 
in the state bank of Morocco. All Moroccan goods entering Germany shall have the 
same privilege as French goods. 

Egypt — Germany recognizes the British protectorate over Egypt declared on Dec. 18, 
1914, and renounces as from Aug. 4, 1914, the capitulation and all the treaties, agree- 
ments, etc., concluded by her with Egypt. She undertakes not to intervene in any 
negotiations^ about Egypt between Great Britain and other powers. There are pro- 
visions for jurisdiction over German nationals and property, and for German consent 
to any changes which may be made in relation to the commission of public debt. 

Germany consents to the transfer to Great Britain of the powers given to 
the late sultan of Turkey for securing the free navigation of the Suez canal. 

Arrangements for property belonging to German nationals in Egypt are made 
similar to those in the case of Morocco and other countries. Anglo-Egyptian goods 
entering Germany shall enjoy the same treatment as British goods. 

Turkey and Bulgaria — Germany accepts all arrangements which the allied and 
associated^ powers make with Turkey and Bulgaria with reference to any right, privi- 
leges, or interests claimed in those countries by Germany or her nationals and not 
dealt with elsewhere. 

Shantung — ^Germany cedes to Japan all rights, titles and privileges, notably as 
to Kiau-Chau and the railroads, mines and cables acquired by her treaty with China 
of March 6, 1897, and other agreements as to Shantung. 

All German rights to the railroad from Tsingtao to Tsinaufu, including all facili- 
ties and mining rights and rights of exploitation, pass equally to Japan and the 
cables from Tsingtao to Shanghai and Chefoo, the cables free of all charges. 

All German state property, movable or immovable, in EUau-Chau is acquired by 
Japan free of all charges. 

490 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 

Military and Naval Forcea 

SECTION VI 

m«nfl° ^J^^l *° Z.^^^^r POBsible the initiation of a general limitation of the arma- 

aTd airllausesThJrh^ £0170^^ '^°'"*^'" '''''''' *° °^--« *^« ""^^-y- -->> 

Military forces-The demobilization of the German army must take place within 
two months of the peace. Its strength may not exceed 100,000, includrng 4 000 officers 
r^ lo^V""" '"''^5 divisions of infantry, and three of cavalry, to be devoted exclusively 
to maintenance of internal order and control of frontiers! Divisions may not be 
grouped under more than two army corps headquarters staffs 

The great German general staff is abolished. The army administrative service, 
consisting of civilian personnel not included in the number of effectives ia reduced 
to one-tenth the total in the 1913 budget. enecuves, is reduced 

Employes of the German states such as customs officers, first guards and coast 
guards may not exceed the number in 1913. Gendarmes and local police mav be increased 
only in accordance with the growth of population. None of these may "be assembled 
for military training. "^ 

Armaments — All establishments for the manufacturing, preparation, storage, or 
design of arms and munitions of war, except those specifically excepted, must be 
closed within three months of the peace and their personnel dismissed. 

The exact amount of armament and munitions allowed Germany is laid down in 
detail tables, all in excess to be surrendered or rendered useless. 

The manufacture or importation of asphyxiating, poisonous, or other gases and all 
analogous liquids is forbidden as well as the importation of arms, munitions, and war 
materials. Germany may not manufacture such materials for foreign governments. 

Conscription — Conscription is abolished in Germany. The enlisted personnel must 
be maintained by voluntary enlistments for terms of twelve consecutive years, the 
number of discharges before the expiration of that term not in any years to exceed 
5 per cent of the total effectives. 

Officers remaining in the service must agree to serve to the age of 45 years and 
newly appointed officers must agree to serve actively for twenty-five years. 

No military schools, except those absolutely indispensable for the units allowed 
shall exist in Germany two months after the peace. No associations, such as societies 
of discharged soldiers, shooting or touring clubs, educational establishments or uni- 
versities, may occupy themselves with military matters. All measures of mobiliza- 
tion are forbidden. 

Fortresses — All fortified works, fortresses, and field works situated in German 
territory within a zone fifty kilometers east of the Rhine will be dismantled within 
three months. The construction of any new fortifications there is forbidden. The 
fortified works on the southern and eastern frontiers, however, may remain. 

Control — Interallied commissions of control will see to the execution of the 
provisions for which a time limit is set, the maximum named being three months. They 
may establish headquarters at the German seat of government and go to any part 
of Germany desired. 

Germany must give them complete facilities, pay their expenses, and also the 
expenses of execution of the treaty, including the labor and material necessary in 
demolition, destruction, or surrender of war equipment. 

Naval — The German navy must be demobilized within a period of two months 
»fter the peace. She will be allowed six small battleships, six light cruisers, twelve 
destroyers, twelve torpedo boats, and no submarines, either military or commercial, with 
a personnel of 15,000 men, including officers, and no reserve force of any character. 

Conscription is abolished, only voluntary service being permitted, with a mini- 
mum period of twenty-five years' service for officers and twelve for men. No member 
of the German mercantile marine will be permitted any naval training. 

491 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 

All German vessels of war in foreign ports and the German high sea fleet interned 
at Scapa Flow, will be surrendered, the final disposition of these ships to be decided 
npon by the allied and associated powers. Germany must surrender forty-two modern 
destroyers, fifty modern torpedo boats and all submarines, with their salvage vessels 
and all war vessels under construction, including submarines, must be broken up. 

War vessels not otherwise provided for are to be plaoed in reserve or used for 
commercial purposes. Replacement of ships, except those lost, can take place only 
at the end of twenty years for battleships and fifteen years for destroyers. The 
largest armored ship Germany will be permitted will be 10,000 tons. 

Germany is required to sweep np the mines in the North sea and the Baltic 
sea, as decided upon by the allies. All German fortifications in the Baltic defending 
the passages through the Delta must be demolished. Other coast defenses are per- 
mitted, but the num>er and caliber of the guns must not be increased. 

During a period of three months after the peace, German high power wireless 
stations at Nauen, Hanover, and Berlin will not be permitted to send any messages 
except for commercial purposes and under supervision of the allied and associated 
governments, nor may any more be constructed. 

Germany will be allowed to repair German submarine cables which have been 
cut but are not being utilized by the allied powers, and also portions of cables which 
after having been cut have been removed or at any rate not being utOized by any 
one of the allied and associated powers. In such cases the cables or portions of cables 
removed or utilized remain the property of allied and associated powers, and accord- 
ingly fourteen cables or parts of cables are specified, which will not be restored to 
Germany. 

Air — The armed forces of Germany must not include any military or naval air 
forces except for not over 100 unarmed seaplanes to be retained till Oct. 1 to search 
for submarine mines. No dirigible shall be kept. 

The entire air personnel is to be demobilized within two months, except for 
1,000 officers and men retained till October. 

No aviation grounds or dirigible sheds are to be allowed within 150 kilometers 
of the Rhine or the eastern or southern frontiers, existing installations within these 
limits to be destroyed. 

The manufacture of aircraft and parts of aircraft is forbidden for six months. 
All military and naval aeronautical material under a most exhaustive definition must 
be surrendered within three months, except for the 100 seaplanes already specified. 

Prisoners of War — The repatriation of German prisoners and interned civilians 
is to be carried out without delay and at Germany's expense by a commission com- 
posed of representatives of the allies in Germany. Those under sentence for offenses 
against discipline are to be repatriated without regard to the completion of their 
sentence. 

Until Germany has surrendered persons guilty of offenses against the laws and 
customs of war, the allies have the right to retain selected German officers. 

The allies may deal at their own discretion with German nationals who do not 
desire to be repatriated, all repatriation being conditional on the immediate release 
of any allied subjects still in Germany. 

Germany is to accord facilities to commission of inquiry in collecting information 
in regard to missing prisoners of war and of imposing penalties on. German officials 
who have concealed allied nationals. 

Germany is to restore all property belonging to allied prisoners. There is to be 
a reciprocal exchange of information as to dead prisoners and their graves. 

Graves — Both parties will respect and maintain the graves of soldiers and sailors . 
buried on their territories, agree to recognize and assist any commission charged by any 
allied or associate government with identifying, registering, maintaining, or erecting 
suitable monuments over the graves, and to afford to each other all facilities for the 
repatriation of the remains of their soldiers. 

492 



TEE TREATY OF PEACE 

Trial of Wllhelm 

Besponsibllities — The allied and associated powers publicly arraign William Sec- 
ond of Hohonzollern, formerly German emporer, not for an offense against criminal 
law, but for a supreme offense against international morality and the sanctity of 
treaties. 

The ex-emperor's surrender is to be requested of Holland and a special tribunal 
set up composed of one judge from each of the five great powors. With full guarantees 
of the right of defense, it is to be guided by the highest of international policy with 
a view of vindicating the solemn obligations of international undertakings and the 
validity of international morality, and will fix the punishment it feels should be 
imposed. 

Persons accused of having committed acts in violation of the laws and customs 
of war are to be tried and punished by military tribunals under military law. If the 
charges affect nationals of only one state they will be tried before the tribunal of 
that state; if they affect nationals of several states, they will be tried before joint 
tribunals of the states concerned. 

Germany shall hand over to the associated governments, either jointly or severally, 
nil persons so accused and all documents and information necessary to insure full 
knowledge of the incriminating acts, the discovery of the offenders, and the just 
appreciation of the responsibility. 

The judge (probably error for accused) will be entitled to name his own counaeL 

Eepaxations 

SECTION vn 

Beparations — The allied and associated goverments affirm, and Germany accepts, 
the responsibility of herself and her allies for causing all the loss and damage to 
which the allied and associated governments and their nationals have been subjected 
as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and 
her allies. 

While the allied and associated governments recognize that the resources of 
Germany are not adequate after taking into account permanent diminutions of such 
resources which will result from other treaty claims, to make complete reparation 
for all such loss and damage, they require her to make compensation for all damages 
caused to civilians under seven main categories: 

A — Damages by personal injury to civilians caused by acts of war, directly or indi- 
rectly, including bombardments from the air. 

B — ^Damages caused to civilians, including exposure at sea, resulting from acts of 
cruelty ordered by the enemy and to civilians in the occupiffd territories. 

— Damages caused by maltreatment of prisoners, 

D Damages to the allied peoples represented by pensions and separation aDcwances, 

capitalized at the signature* of this treaty. 

E — Damages to property other than naval or military materials. 

r — Damages to civilians by being forced to labor. 

G — Damages in the form of levies or fines imposed by the enemy. 

Germany further binds herself to repay all sums borrowed by Belgium from her 
allies as a result of Germany's violation of the treaty of 1839 up to Nov. 11, 1918, and 
for this purpose will issue at once and hand over to the reparation commission 5 per 
cent gold bonds falling due in 1926. 

The total obligation of Germany to pay as defined in the category of damages 
is to be determined and notified to her after a fair hearing and not later than May 1, 
1921, by an interallied reparation commission. 

At the same time a schedule of payments to discharge the obligation within thirty 
years shall be presented. These payments are subject to postponement in certain con- 
tingencies. 

Germany irrevocably recognizes the full authority of this commisBion, agrees to 
supply it with all the necessary information and to pass legislation to effecrtuate ^a 
findings* She further agrees tb resttire to the allies Casli ajia c'ertioia articles whicb 
cfcn be identified* 

493 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 

As an immediate step toward restoration Germany shall pay within two years 
one thousand million pounds sterling ($5,000,000,000), in either gold, goods, ships, or 
other specific forms of payment, this sum being included in and not additional to first 
thousand million bond issue referred to below, with the understanding that certain 
expenses, such as those of the armies of occupation and payments for food and raw 
materials, may be deducted at the discretion of the allies. 

In periodically estimating Germany's capacity to pay, the reparation commission 
shall examine the German system of taxation, to the end that the sums for reparation 
which Germany is required to pay shall become a charge upon all her revenues, prior 
to that for the service or discharge of any domestic loan, and secondly, so as to satisfy 
itself that, in general, the German scheme of taxation is fully as heavy proportionately 
as that of any of the powers represented on the commission. 

The measures which the allied and associated powers shall have the right to take, 
in case of voluntary default by Germany and which Germany agrees not to regard as 
acts of war, may include economic and financial prohibitions and reprisals and in 
general such other measures as the respective governments may determine to be neces- 
sary in the circumstances. 

The commission shall consist of one representative each of the United States, Great 
Britain, France, Italy and Belgium, a representative of Serbia or Japan taking the 
place of the Belgian representative when the interests of either country are particularly 
affected, with all other allied powers entitled when their claims are under considera- 
tion to the right of representation without voting power. It shall permit Germany 
to give evidence regarding her capacity to pay and shall assure a just opportunity 
to be heard. 

It shall make its headquarters at Paris, establish its own procedure and i>er8onnel, 
have general control of the whole reparation problem, and become the exclusive agency of 
the allies for receiving, holding, selling, and distributing reparation paym_ents. 

Majority vote shall prevail except that unanimity is required on questions involv- 
ing the sovereignty of any of the allies, the cancellation of all or part of Germany '3 
obligations, the time and manner of selling, distributing, and negotiating bonds issued 
by Germany, any postponement between 1921 and 1926 of annual payments beyond 
1930, and any postponment after 1926 for a period of more than three years of the 
application of a different method of measuring damage than in a similar form or case 
and the interpretation of provisions. 

Withdrawal from representation on the commission is permitted upon twelve months * 
notice. The commission may require Germany to give from time to time, by way of 
guarantee, issues of bonds or other obligations to cover such claims as are not other- 
wise satisfied. 

In this connection and on account of the total amount of claims, bond issues are 
presently to be required of Germany in acknowledgment of its debt as follows: 

One thousand million pounds sterling ($5,000,000,000) payable not later than May 1, 
1921, without interest; $10,000,000,000, bearing 2% per cent interest between 1921 and 
1926, and thereafter 5 per cent, with a 1 per cent sinking fund payment beginning 
in 1926, and an undertaking to deliver bonds to an additional amount of $10,000,000,000, 
bearing interest at 5 per cent. 

Under terms to be fixed by the commission, interest on Germany 's debt will be 
5 per cent, unless otherwise determined by the commission in the future, and pay- 
ments that are not made in gold may be accepted by the commission in the form of 
properties, commodities, businesses, rights, concessions, etc. 

Certificates of beneficial interest, representing either bonds or goods delivered by 
Germany may be issued by the commission to the interested powers. As bonds are 
distributed and pass from the control of the commission an amount of Germany 's debt 
equivalent to their par value is to be considered as liquidated. 

494 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 

Shipping — The German government recognizes the right of the allies to the replace- 
ment, ton for ton and class for class, of all merchant ships and fishing boats lost 
or damaged otring to the war, and agrees to cede to the allies all German merchant 
ships of 1,600 tons gross and upwards, one-half of her ships between 1,000 and 1,600 
tons gross, and one-quarter of her steam trawlers and other fishing boats. These ships 
are to be delivered within two months to the reparation commission, together with 
documents of title evidencing the transfer of the ships free from incumbrance. 

"As an additional part of reparation'' the German government further agrees 
to build merchant ships for the account of the allies to the amount of not exceeding 
200,000 tons gross annually during the next five years. 

All ships used for inland navigation taken by Germany from the allies are to be 
restored within two months, the amount of loss not covered by such restitution to be 
made up by the cession of the German river fleet up to 20 per cent thereof. 

Devastated Areas 

SECTION VIII 

Devastated areas — Germany undertakes to devote her economic resources directly 
to the physical restoration of the invaded areas. The reparation commission is authorized 
to require Germany to replace the destroyed articles by the delivery of animals, 
machinery, etc., existing in Germany and to manufacture materials required for recon- 
struction purposes, with due consideration for Germany's essential domestic require- 
ments. 

Ooal, etc. — ^Germany is to deliver annually for ten years to France coal equivalent 
to the difference between annual pre-war output of Nord and Pas de Calais mines and 
annual production during above ten years. Germany, further, gives options over ten 
years for delivery of 7,000,000 tons coal per year to France, in addition to the above; 
of 8,000,000 tons to Belgium, and of an amount rising from 4,500,000 tons in 1919 
to 1920 to 8,500,000 tons in 1923 to 1924 to Italy at prices to be fixed as prescribed in 
the treaty. Coke may be taken in place of coal in ratio of three tons to four. Pro- 
vision is also made for delivery to France over three years of benzol, coal tar, and 
sulphate of ammonia. The commission has powers to postpone or annul the above 
deliveries should they interfere unduly with industrial requirements of Germany. 

Dyestoffs — Germany accords option to the commission on dyestuffg and chemical 
drugs, including quinine, up to 50 per cent of total stock in Germany at the time 
the treaty comes in force and similar options during each six months to end of 1924 up 
to 25 per cent of previous six months ' output. 

Cables — Germany renounces all title to specified cables, value of such as were 
privately owned being credited to her against reparation indebtedness. 

Special provisions — As reparation for the destruction of the library of Louvain, 
Germany is to hand over manuscripts, early printed books, prints, etc., to be equivalent 
to those destroyed. 

In addition to the above, Germany is to hand over to Belgium wings now at Berlin 
belonging to the altar piece of the "Adoration of the Lamb," by Hubert and Jan Van 
Eyck, the center of which is now in the church of St. Bavo at Ghent, and the wings 
now at Berlin and Munich, of the altar piece of "Last Supper," by Dirk Bouts, the 
center of which belongs to the church of St. Peter at Louvain. 

Germany is to restore within six months the koran of the Caliph Ottman, formerly 
at Medina to the king of the Hedjaz, and the skull of the Sultan 2£kwawa, formerly 
in German East Africa, to His Britannic Majesty's government. 

Pre- War Debts 
SECTION IX 
Finance — Powers to which German territory is ceded will assume a certain por- 
tion of the German pre-war debt, the amount to be fixed by the reparations commission 
on the basis of the ratio between the revenue of the ceded territory and Germany's 
total revenues for the three years preceding the war. 

495 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 

In view, however, of the special circumstances under which Alsace-Lorraine was 
separated from France in 1871, when Germany refused to accept any part of the French 
public debt, France will not assume any part of Germany 's pre-war debt there, nor will 
Poland share in certain German debts incurred for the oppression of Poland. 

If the value of the German public property in ceded territory exceeds the amount 
of debt assumed, the states to which property is ceded give credit on reparation for 
the excess, with the exception of Alsace-Lorraine. _ 

Mandatory powers will not assume any German debts or give any credit for Ger- 
man government property. 

Germany renounces all right of representation on, or control of, state banks, com- 
missions, or other similar international financial and economic organizations. 

Must Pay For Occupation 

Germany is required to pay for the t<ital cost of the armies of occupation from the 
date of the armistice as long as they are maintained in German territory, thia cost 
to be the first charge on her resources. The cost of reparation is the next charge, 
after making such provisions for payments for imports as the allies may deem neces- 
sary. , . 

Germany is to deliver to the allied and associated powers all sums deposited m 
Germany by Turkey and Austria-Hungary in connection with the financial support 
extended by her to them during the war, and to transfer to the allies all claims against 
Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria or Turkey in connection with agreements made during the 
war. 

Germany confirms the renunciation of the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk. 

On the request of the reparations commission, Germany will expropriate any 
right, rights or interests of her nationals in public utilities in ceded territorieg or those 
administered by mandatories, and in Turkey, China, Eussia, Austria-Hungary, and Bul- 
garia, and transfer them to the reparations commission, which will credit her with 
their value. 

Germany guarantees to repay to Brazil the fund arising from the sale of Sao Paulo 
coffee which she refused to allow Brazil to withdraw from Germany. 

Economic Clauses 
SECTION X 

Customs — For a period of six months Germany shall impose no tariff duties 
higher than the lowest in force in 1914, and for certain agricultural products, wines, 
vegetables, oils, artificial silk, and washed or scoured wool this restriction obtains for 
two asd a half years, or for five years unless further extended by the league of nations. 

Germany must give most favored nation treatment to the allied and associated 
powers. She shall impose no customs tariff for five years on goods originating in 
Arsace-Lorraine and for three years on goods originating in former German territory 
ceded to Poland with the right of observation of a similar exception for Luxemburg. 

Shipping — Ships of the allied and associated powers shall for five years, and 
thereafter under condition of reciprocity, unless the league of nations otherwise 
- decides, enjoy the same rights in German ports as German vessels and have most favored 
nation treatment in fishing, coasting trade, and towage even in territorial waters. 
Ships of a country having no sea coast may be registered at some one place within 
its territory. 

Unfair competition — Germany undertakes to give the trade of the allied and 
associated powers adequate safeguards against unfair competition and in particular 
to suppress the use of false wrappings and markings and on condition of reciprocity to 
respect the laws and judicial decisions of allied and associated states, in respect of 
regional appellations of wines and spirits. 

Treatment of Nationals — Germany shall impose no exceptional taxes or restric- 
tion upon the nationals of the allied and associated states for a period of five years 
and unless the league of nations acts for an additional five years, German nationality 
shall not continue to attach to a person who has become a national of an allied or 
associated state. 

496 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 

CTonventions — Some forty multilateral conventions arc renewed between Germany 
and the allied and associated powers, but Bpecial conditions are attached to Ger- 
many 'g roadmitjflion to several. 

Afl to poetal and telegraphic conventions Germany must not refune to make 
reciprocal agreements with the new states. She must agree as respects the radio- 
telegraphic convention to provisional rules to be communicated to it and adheres to 
the new convention when formulated. 

In the North sea fisheries and North sea liquor trafl5c convention, rights of 
inspection and police over associated fishing boats shall be exercised for at least 
five years only by vessels of these powers. As to the international railway union Ger- 
many shall adhere to the new convention when formulated. 

As to the Chinese customs tariff arrangement, the arrangements of 1905 regard- 
ing Whangpoo and the Boxer indemnity of 1901; France, Portugal, and Roumania, 
as to the Hague convention of 1903 relating to civil procedure; and Great Britain and 
the United States, as to article 3 of the Samoan treaty of 1899, are relieved of all 
obligation toward Germany. 

Each allied and associated state may renew any treaty with Germany insofar 
as consistent with the pea^e treaty by giving notice within si-x months. Treaties 
entered into by Germany since Aug. 1, 1914, with other enemy states and before or 
since that date with Boumania, Russia, and governments representing parts of Russia 
are abrogated and any concession granted under pressure by Russia to German sub- 
jects annulled. 

The allied and associated states are to enjoy most favored nation treatment under 
treaties entered into by Germany and other enemy states before Aug. 1, 1914, and 
under treaties entered into by Germany and neutral states during the war. 

Pre-War Debta — A system of clearing houses is to be created within three months, 
one in Germany and one in each allied and associated state which adopts the plan for 
the payment of pre-war debts, including tiiose arising from contracts suspended 
by the war, for the adjustment of the proceeds of the liquidation of enemy property and 
the settlement of other obligations. 

Each participating state assumes responsibility for the payment of all debts owing 
by its nationals to nationals of the enemy states except in cases of pre-war insolvency 
of the debtor. 

The proceeds of the sale of private enemy property in each participating state 
may be used to pay the debts owed to the nationals of that state, direct payment 
from debtor to creditor and all communications relating thereto being prohibited. 

Disputes may be settled by arbitration by the courts of the debtor country or 
by the mixed arbitral tribunal. Any ally or associated power may, however, decline 
to participate in this system by giving Germany six months' notice. 

Enemy Property — Germany shall restore or pay for all private enemy property 
seized or damaged by her, the amount of damages to be fixed by the mixed arbitral 
tribunal. The allied and associated states may liquidate German private property 
within their territories as compensation for property of their nationals not restored or 
paid for by Germany, for debts owed to their nationals by German nationals, and for 
other claims against Germany. 

Germany is to compensate its nationals for such losses and to deliver within 
six months all documents relating to property held by its nationals in allied and 
associated states. 

All war legislation as to enemy property rights and interests is confirmed and 
all claims by Germany against the allied or associated governments for acts under 
exceptional war measures abandoned. 

Contracts — Pre-war contracts between allied and associated nationals, excepting 
the United States, Japan, and Brazil, and German nationals are cancelled, except for 
debts for accounts already performed, agreements for the transfer of property where 
the property had already passed, leases of land and houses, contracts of mortgage, 
pledge of lien, mining concessions, contracts with governments, and insurance con- 
tracts. 

497 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 

Mixed arbitral tribunals shall be establislied, of three members, one choosen by 
Germany, one by the associated states, and the third by agreement, or, failing which, 
by the president of Switzerland. They shall have jurisdiction over all disputes as to 
contracts concluded before the present peace treaty. 

Fire insurance contracts are not censidered dissolved by the war, even if pre- 
miums have not been paid, but lapse at the date of the first annual premium falling 
due three months after the peace. 

Life insurance contracts may be restored by payments of accumulated premiums 
with the interest, sums falling due on such contracts during the war to be recoverable 
with interest. Marine insurance contracts are dissolved by the outbreak of war, except 
where the risk insured against had already been incurred. 

Where the risk had not attached, premiums paid are recoverable; otherwise, premiums 
due and sums due on losses are recoverable. Eeinsurance treaties are abrogated unless 
invasion had made it impossible for the reinsured to find another reinsurer. 

Any allied or associated power, however, may cancel all the contracts running 
between its nations and a German life insurance company, the latter being obligated 
to hand over the proportion of its assets attributable to such policies. 

Industrial Property — Rights as to industrial, literary and artistic property are 
re-established, the special war measures of the allied and associated powers are 
ratified and the right reserved to impose conditions on the use of German patents 
and copyrights when in the public interest. Except as between the United States 
and Germany, pre-war licenses and rights to sue for infringements committed during 
the war are cancelled. 

Opium — The contracting powers agree, whether or not they have signed and 
ratified the opium convention of Jan. 23, 1912, or signed the special protocol opened 
at the Hague in accordance with resolutions adopted by the third opium conference 
in 1914, to bring the said convention into force by enacting within twelve months of 
the peace the necessary legislation. 

Bellgious Missions — The allied and associated powers agree that the properties 
of religious missions in territories belonging or ceded to them shall continue in their 
work under the control of the powers, Germany renouncing all claims in their behalf. 

Air Control 
SECTION XI 

Aerial Navigation — Aircraft of the allied and associated powers shall have full 
liberty of passage and landing over and in German territory, equal treatment with Ger- 
man planes as to use of German airdromes, and with most favored nation planes 
as to internal commercial trafSe in Germany, 

Germany agrees to accept allied certificates of nationality, airworthiness or com- 
petency or licenses and to apply the convention relative to aerial navigation concluded 
between the allied and associated powers to her own aircraft over her own territory. 
These rules apply until 1923 unless Germany has since been admitted to the league 
of nations or to the above convention. 

Freedom of transit — Germany must grant freedom of transit through her territories 
by rail or water to persons, goods, ships, carriages, and mails from or to any of the 
allied or associated powers, without customs or transit duties, undue delays, restric- 
tions, or discriminations based on nationality, means of transport, or place of entry or 
departure. 

Goods in transit shall be assured all possible speed of journey, especially perishable 
goods. 

Germany may not divert traffic from its normal course in favor of her own trans- 
port routes or maintain "control stations" in connection with trans-migration traffic. 
She may not establish any tax discrimination against the ports of allied or associated 
powers; must grant the latter 's seaports all factors and reduced tariffs granted her 
own or other nationals, and afford the allied and associated powers equal rights 'with 

498 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 

those of her own nationals in her ports and waterways, save that she is free to open 
or close her maritime coasting trade. 

Fres zones In ports — Free zones existing in German ports on Aug. 1, 1914, must 
be maintained with due facilities as to warehouses and packing, without discrimina- 
tion and without charges except for expenses of administration and use. Goods leaving 
the free zones for consumption in Germany and goods brought into the free zones 
from Germany shall be subject to the ordinary import and export taxes. 

German Rivers Open To All 

SECTION XII 

International Rivers — The Elbe from the junction of the Vltava, the Vltava from 
Prague, the Oder from Oppa, the Nienien from Grodno, and the Danube from Ulm are 
declared international together with their connections. The riparian states must ensure 
good conditions of navigation within their territories unless a special organization exists 
therefor. Otherwise appeal may be had to a special tribunal of the league of nations, 
which also may arrange for a general international waterways convention. 

The Elbe and the Oder are to be placed under international commissions to meet 
within three months, that for the Elbe composed of four representatives of Germany, 
two from Czecho-Slovakia, and one each from Great Britain, France, Italy, and Bel- 
gium, and that for the Oder composed of one each from Poland, Russia, Czecho-Slovakia, 
Great Britain, France, Denmark and Sweden, 

If any riparian state on the Niemen should so request of the league of nations 
a similar commission shall be established there. These commissions shall, upon request 
of any riparian state, meet within three months to revise existing international agree- 
ment. 

The Danube — The European Danube commission reassumes its pre-war powers, for 
the time being, with representatives of only Great Britain, Italy and Roumania. The 
upper Danube is to be administered by a new international commission until a definitive 
state be drawn up at a conference of the powers nominated by the allied and associated 
governments within one year after the peace. 

The enemy governments shall make full reparations for all war damages caused 
to the European commission; shall cede their river facilities in surrendered territory, 
and give Czecho-Slovakia, Serbia and Roumania any rights necessary on their shores 
for carrying out improvements in navigation, 

Rhine and Moselle — The Ehine is placed under the central commission to meet 
at Strasbourg within six months after the peace and to be composed of four repre- 
sentatives of France, which shall in addition select the president; four of Germany, 
and two each of Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland and the Netherlands. 

Germany must give France on the course of the Rhine included between the 
two extreme points of her frontiers all rights to take water to feed canals, while her- 
self agn'seing not to make canals on the right bank opposite France. She must also 
hand over to France all her drafts and designs for this part of the river. 

Belgium is v^ be permitted to build a deep draft Rhine-Meuse canal if she so desires 
within twenty-five years, in which case Germany must construct the part within her 
territory on plans drawn by Belgium; similarly, the interested allied governments may 
construct a Rhine-Meuse canal, both, if constructed, to come under the competent inter- 
national commission. 

Germany may not object if the central Rhine commission desires to extend its 
jurisdiction over the lower Moselle, the upper Rhine, or lateral canals. 

Germany must cede to the allied and associated governments certain tugs, vessels, 
and facilities for navigation on all these rivers, the specific details to bo established 
by an arbiter named by the United States. Decision will be based on the legitimate 
needs of the parties concerned and on the shipping traffic during the five years before 
the war. The value will be included in the regular rejiaratiou account. In the case 
of the Rhine shares in the German navigation companies and property such as wharves 

499 



TEE TREATY OF PEACE 

and warehouses held by Germany in Eotterdam at the outbreak of war must be handed 
over. 

Railways .Germany, in addition to most favored nation treatment on her railways, 

agrees to co-operate in the establishment of through ticket services for passengers and 
baggage; to ensure communication by rair between the allied, associated and other 
states; to allow the construction or improvement within twenty-five years of such 
lines as necessary, and to conform her rolling stock to enable its incorporation in 
trains of the allied or associated powers. 

She also agrees to accept the denunciation of the St. Gothard convention if Switzer- 
land and Italy so request, and temporarily to execute instructions as to the transport 
of troops and supplies and the establishment of postal and telegraphic service, as 
provided. 

Czecho-Slovakia — To assure Czecho-Slovakia access to the sea, special rights are 
given her both north and south. Towards the Adriatic, she is permitted to run her 
own through trains to Fiume and Trieste. To the north, Germany is to lease her for 
ninety-nine years spaces in Hamburg and Stettin, the details to be worked out by a 
commission of three representing Czecho-Slovakia, Germany, and Great Britain, 

The Kiel canal — The Kiel canal is to remain free and open to war and merchant 
ships of all nations at peace with Germany. Goods and ships of all states are to be 
treated on terms of absolute equality, and no taxes to be imposed beyond those neces- 
sary for upkeep and improvement for which Germany is responsible. 

In case of violation of or disagreement as to these provisions, any state may 
appeal to the league of nations, and may demand the appointment of an international 
commission. For preliminary hearing of complaints Germany shall establish a local 
authority at Eael. 

Aid for Labor 
SECTION XIII 

Members of the league of nations agree to establish a permanent organization to 
promote international adjustment of labor conditions, to consist of an annual interna- 
tional labor conference and an international labor office. 

The former is composed of four representatives of each state, two from the 
government and one each from the employers and the employed; each of them may 
vote individually. It will be a deliberative, legislative body, its measures taking the 
form of draft conventions or recommendations for legislation, which, if passed by 
two-thirds vote, must be submitted to the law-making authority in every state 
participating, 

Each government may either enact the terms into law; approve the principle, but 
modify them to local needs; leave the a<5tual legislation, in case of a federal state, to 
local legislatures, or reject the convention altogether, without further obligation. 

The international labor office is established at the seat of the league of nations, as 
part of its organization. It is to collect and distribute information on labor throughout 
the world and prepare agenda for the conference. It will publish a periodical in 
French and English, and possibly other languages. 

Each state agrees to make to it, for presentation to the conference, an annual report 
of measures taken to execute accepted conventions; the governing body is its executive. 
It consists of twenty-four members, twelve representing the governments, six the 
employers, and_ six the employes, to serve for three years. 

On complaint that any government has failed to carry out a convention to which it 
is a party, the governing body may make inquiries directly to that government, and, in 
case the reply is unsatisfactory, may publish the complaint with comment. 

A complaint by one government against another may be referred by the governing 
"body to a commission of inquiry nominated by the secretary general of the league. 

If the commission report fails to bring satisfactory action, the matter may bo 
taken to a permanent court of international justice for final decision. The chief 
reliance for securing enforcement of the law will be publicity, with a possibility of 
economic action in the baokgrOTind. 

500 



THE TREATY OF PEACE 

t« a'^^^ ^M^ meeting of the conference will take place in October, 1919, at W.-whington, 
to discuss the eight hotir day, or forty-eight hour week; prevention of unemplovment- 
extension and application of tho international conventions adopted at Berne in 1906 
prohibiting night work for women and the use of white phosphorus in the manufacture 
©f matches; and employment of women and children at night or in unhealthy work 
ef women before and after childbirth, including maternity benefit, and of children as 
regards minimum age. 

^ Nine principles of labor conditions we recognize on the ground that "the weU 
being physical and moral, of the industrial wage earners is of supreme international 
importance." With exceptions necessitated by differences of climate, habits and 
economic development, they include: The guiding principle that labor should not be 
regarded merely as a commodity or article of commerce; right of association of 
employers and employes; a wage adequate to maintain a reasonable standard of life; 
the eight hour day, or forty-eight hour week; a weekly rest of at least tweuty-f«ur 
hours, which should include Sunday wherever practicable; abolition of child labor and 
assurance of the continuation of the education and proper physical development of 
children; equal pay for equal work as between men and women; equitable treatment of 
aU workers lawfully resident therein, including foreigners, and a system of inspection 
m which women should take part. 

Safoguards and Guarantees 
SECTION XIV 

Guarantee — Western Europe. As a guarantee for the execution of the treaty, Gorman 
territory to the west of the Rhine, together with the bridgeheads, will be occupied 
by allied and associated troops for fifteen years. 

If the conditions are faithfully carried out by Germany certain districts, including 
the bridgehead of Cologne, will be evacuated at the expiration of five years; certain 
other districts, including the bridgehead of Coblenz, and the territories nearest the 
Belgian frontier, will be evacuated after ten years, and tho remainder, including the 
bridgehead of Mainz, will be evacuated after fifteen years. 

In case the interallied reparation commission finds that Germany has failed to 
observe the whole or part of her obligation, either during the occupation or after the 
fifteen years have expired, the whole or part of the areas specified will be reoccupied 
immediately. If before the expiration of the fifteen years Germany complies with 
all the treaty undertakings, the occupying forces will be withdrawn immediately. 

Eastern Europe — All German troops at present in territories to tho east of tho 
new frontier shall return as soon as the allied and associated governments deem wise. 
They are to abstain from all requisitions and are in no way to interfere with measures 
for national defense taken by the government concerned. 

All questions regarding occupation not provided for by the treaty will be regulated 
by a subsequent convention or convention which -svill have similar force and effect. 

No Counter-claims Allowed 
SECTION XV 

MisceUaJieous — Germany agrees to recognize the fidl validity of the treaties of 
peace and additional conventions to be concluded by the allied and associated powers 
with the powers allied with Germany; to agree to the decisions to be taken as to tho 
territories of Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey, and to recognize the new states 
in the frontiers to be fixed for them. 

Germany agrees not to put forward any pecuniary claims against ajiy allied or 
associated power signing the present treaty based on events previous to the coming 
into force of the treaty. 

Germany accepts all decrees as to German ships and goods made by any allied or 
associated prize court. The allies reserve the right to examine all decisions of Ger- 
man prize courts. The present treaty, of which tho French and British texts are both 
authentic, shall be ratified and the depositions of ratifications made in Paris as soon 
as possible. The treaty is to become effective in all respects for each power on the 
date of deposition of its ratification. 

501 




Map of Central Europe, Showing tKe Territorial Effects of the Peace Treaty. 
See Key on, Opposite rage. 



CHANGES IN MAP OF EUROPE 

Key to Map on Opposite Page 



«^ chmoet tnaae <» ffce map of Central Europe bv the temu of the Treaty of Peace handed to t%» 
9'**TJ5f^' y'^^'^'^ at Jer.<,in«, on May 7, IBlfi, are ,hown on the opposite ioffi. T^ p^^Zi uJif 
in a territorial or geograpMo tente>, are (Bee corretponding figuret and .lettort inthe mapj? *' 

f Alsace-Lorraine, the territories which were i q Poaen must be ceded to Poland 

^ ' wrenched from France in 1871, are restored 1 0. 

to the republic The French in the lost prov- , . The greater part of Ui)p«r Silesia ia to 

inces now regained are repatriated, and the lyf. go to Poland "f*^^ ououa » » 

Oermans there may become French citizens, if -•' mv *uj»..._ « '^^ 

they so desire, by naturalization after three 15. ^he present border between Qemany aad 

years. The pubUc debt is canceUed. -^ Bohemia is to remain unchanged 

The Saar valley will pass into the hands of 1 6. ^^^^^ °^"^ recogni^j the independtfflca 
- - - V »- *'-'• of the new nation of Czecho-Slovaldd.- 

Access to the sea must be provifled by railroads 
to the Adriatic at Fiume and Trieet, and in the 
north Germany must lease spaces in Hamburg 
and Stettin. 

Germany must recognize t^e independeilce 
of German Austria. 

The Ruthenians in Hungary are to be 
recognized as independent 
The entire Russian boundary taust be 
restored to the lines of the old Russian 
empire. The treaties of Brest-Litovsk and other 
treaties with the Russian soviet government are- 
abrogated. 



9 

^' the French, together with the output of the 
mines. After fifteen years the people of the 
districJt will rote whether they shall remaiil 
under French control, under the guidance of 
the league of nations, or return to Germany. 
This voting will be open to all inhabitants over 
20 years of age. 

O ■ Germany must renounce all treaties with 
^' Luxembourg and must give up the German 
control of the railways and other facilities in 
the grand duchy. The duchy is considered to 
have ceased to have been part of the German 
ZoUverein from Jan. 1, 1919. 
A Germany must' recognize the sovereignty of 



17. 

18. 
19. 



Belgium over the contested teirritory of 
Morenet, and must cede all rights to the districts 
cf ilalmedy and Eupen. The people in six 
months may protest, if they wish to, this change. 
The districts affected comprise 382 square miles. 

5(Jermanj' must create a neutral zone thirty 
• miles in depth east of the Rhine. The 
bridgeheads will be occupied fifteen 'years. 
r> Helgoland, the island fortress, is to be dis- 
^* mantled at German rapense and by German' 
labor. 

7 The frontier between Germany and Den- 
• mark will be decided by a plebiscite. The 
people of Schleswig-Holstein will decide under 
the right of self-determination. 

8 Danzig and the immediate vicinity will be a 
• free port, giving Poland an outlet to the 

•ea. It will be protected by the league of 

nations. 

Q The territory around Memel must be given 

*'• up to the allies, who will decide on its 

destination. 

The boundaries of southern and eastern 
Prussia will be decided by a vote of the 

people. The German troops must move out 

within fifteen days after peace is signed. 

1 1 Germany must recognize the independence 

* * * of the new Poland. 

1 o The portion of West Prussia on the left 

*^' bank of the Vistula must be ceded to 

Poland. 



nr\ Germany must accept any arrangement 
^^' the allies make with Bulgaria. 



21 



The Germans must accept any arrange- 
ment the allies make with Turkey. 



A. 
B. 
C. 



10. 



The rivers running through the old Germany 
and Austria-Hungary are to be internationalized 
and largely controll^l by representatives of tho 
allies : 

The Rhine will be internationalized on the 
whole of its navigable course. 
The Kiel canal, base of the German fleet, 
is to be opened to the ships of the world. 
The Elbe river from the juncture of tho 
Vltava to its mouth is to be intcnjation- 

.alized. 

■p\ The Vltava as far up as Prague is to be 

■'-'• internationalized, giving the city an outlet 

to the sea. 

EThe internationalization of the Oder will 
• be between Oppa and the mouth of the 
stream. 

FThe Niemen river must be opened to the 
• vessels of the world as far up as Grodno. 
The entire course of the Danube from Ulm 
to the Black sea is internationalized. 
The Moselle river is placed under the 
same international river (a)ntrol comnus- 
mn a8 the Rhine. 



G. 
H 



CHANGES IN THE PEACE TREATY 

The changes in the treaty of peace agreed upon by the Allies 
and promulgated June 16, 1919, when the revised treaty was handed 
to the Germans, included the following: 

1. A plebiscite for Upper Silesia, with guarantees of coal from that territory. 

2. Frontier rectifications In West Prussia. 

8. Omission of the third zone in the Schleswig plebiscite. 

4. Temporary increase of the German army from 100,000 to 200,000 men, 

5. Declaration of the intention to submit within a month of signature a list 
of those accused of violation of the laws and customs of war. 

6. Offer to co-operate with a German commission on reparations, and to 
receive suggestions for discharging the obligation. 

7. Certain detailed modifications In the finance, economic, and ports and 
waterways clauses, including abolition of the proposed Kiel canal commission. 

8. Assurance of membership in the League of Nations In the early future. If 
Germany fulfills her obligations. 

After the German national assembly at Weimar had voted in 
favor of signing the treaty of peace, Sunday, June 22, 1919, and 
the Scheidemann government had been replaced by a cabinet headed 
by Herr Bauer, a new set of plenipotentiaries was named to sign 
on behalf of Germany, and the treaty was finally signed by the 
representatives of the Allied powers and Germany, at Versailles, 
Saturday, June 28, 1919. 

The Germans delegated by the Bauer government t^ sign the 
treaty were : Dr. Herman Mueller, foreign minister ; Dr. Bell, min- 
ister of colonies ; Herr Leinert, and Herr Giesberts. With their sig- 
natures came the conclusion of peace — ^the official end of the great 
World War, 



504 



CHRONOLOaY OF THE WORLD WAR 

Dates of Important BattUs, Naval Engagements, and Principal 
Events of the War from 1914 to the Signing of the Peace Treatu 
»n Jun4, 1919. 

1914 

June 28 — Archduke Ferdinand and wife assassinated in Sarajevo, Bosnia, 

July 28 — Austria-Hongary declares war on Serbia. 

August 1 — Germany declares war on Eussia and general mobilization is 
under way in France and Austria-Hungary. Aug. 2 — German troops enter 
France at Cirey; Eussian troops enter Germany at Sohwidden; German army 
enters Laxemburg over protest, and Germany asks Belgium for free passage of 
her troopa. Aug. 3 — British fleet mobilizes; Bel^um appeals to Great Britain 
for diplomatic aid and German ambassador quits Paris. 

Aug. 4 — France declares war on Germany; Germany declares war on Bel- 
gium; Great Britain sends Belgium neutrality ultimatum to Germany; British 
army mobilized and state of war between Great Britain and Germany is declared. 
President Wilson issues ueotraJlty proclamation. Aug. 5 — Germans begin 
fighting on Belgium frontier; Qemaany asks for Italy's help. Aug. 6 — Austria 
declares war on Eussia. Aug. 7 — Germans defeatCKi by French at Altkireh. 
Aug. 9 — German* capture Liege. Portugal announces it will support Great 
Britain; British land troops in France. Aug. 10 — France declares war on 
Austria-Hungary. 

Aug. 12 — Great Britain declares war on Austria-Hungary; Montenegro 
declares war on Germany. Aug. 15 — Japan sends iiltimatum to Germany to 
withdraw from Japanese and Chinese waters and evacuate Kiao-chow; Eussia 
offers autonomy to Poland. Aug. 20— German army enters Brussels. Aug. 23 — 
Japan declares war on Germany; Eussia victorious in battles in East Prussia. 
Aug. 24 — Japanese warships bombard Tsingtao. Aug. 25 — Japan and Austria 
break off diplomatio relations. Aug. 28 — English win naval battle over German 
fid«t near Helgoland. Aug. 29 — Germans defeat Eussians at Allenstein; occupy 
Amiens; advance to La Fere, sixty-five miles from Paris. 

September 1 — Germans cross Mame; bombs dropped on Paris; Turkish 
army mobilized; Zeppelins drop bombs on Antwerp. Sept. 2 — Government of 
Prance transferred to Bordeaux: Eussians capture Lemberg. Sept. 4 — Germans 
cross the Marne. Sept. 5 — England, France, and Eussia sign pact to make no 
separate peace. 8^t. 6 — French win battle of Marne; British cruiser Path- 
floder sunk in North sea by a German submarine. Sept. 7 — Germans retreat 
from the Mame. Sept. 14 — Battle of Aisne starts; German retreat halted. 
Sept. 16 — First battle of Soissons fought. Sept. 20 — Eussians capture Jaroslau 
and begin siege of PrzemysL 

October 9-10 — Germans capture Antwerp. Oct. 12 — Germans take Ghent. 
Oct. 20 — Fighting along Yser river begins. Oct. 29 — Turkey begins war on 
Bussia. 

November 7 — Tsingtro falls before Japanese troops. Nov. 9 — German 
erniser Bmden destroyed. 

December 11 — German advance on Warsaw checked. Dec 14 — Belgrade 
recaptured by Serbians. Dec. 16 — German cruisers bombard Scarborough, 
HartlepooL, and Whitby, on English coast, killing fifty or more persons; Aus 
trians said to have lost upwards of 100,000 men in Serbian defeat. Dec. 26 
— Italy occupies Avlona, Albania. 

505 



CERONOLOGY OF TEE WORLD WAR 

1915 

January 1 — British battleship Formidable sunk. Jan. 8 — Roumania mobi- 
lizes 750,000 men; violent fighting in the Argonne. Jan. 11 — Germans crosa 
the Rawka, thirty miles from "Warsaw. Jan. 24 — British win naval battle in 
North sea. Jan. 29 — Eussian army invades Hungary; German efforts to cros* 
Aisne repulsed. 

Pebruary 1 — British repel strong German attack near La Bassee. Feb. 2 
' — Turks are defeated in attack on Suez canal. Feb. 4 — Russians capture 
Tarnow in Galicia. Feb. 8 — Turks along Suez canal in full retreat; Turkish 
land defenses at the Dardanelles shelled by British torpedo boats. Feb. 11 — 
Germans evacuate Lodz. Feb. 12 — Germans drive Russians from positions in 
East Prussia, taking 26,000 prisoners. Feb. 14:— Russians report capture of 
fortifications at Smolnik. Feb. 16 — Germans capture Plock and Bielsk in 
Poland; French capture two miles of German trenches in Champagne district. 

February 17 — Germans report they have taken 50,000 Russian prisoners in 
Mazurian lake district. Feb. 18 — German blockade of English and French 
coasts put into effect, Feb. 19-20 — ^British and French fleets bombard Dar-. 
danelles forts. Feb. 21 — American steamer Evelyn sunk by mine in North sea. 
Feb. 22 — German war office announces capture of 100,000 Russian prisoners 
in engagements in Mazurian lake region; American steamer Carib sunk 
by mine in North sea. Feb. 28 — Dardanelles entrance forts capitulate to 
English and French. 

March 4 — Landing of allied troops on both sides of Dardanelles straits 
reported; German U-4 sunk by French destroyers. March 10 — Battle of Neuve 
Chapelle begins. March 14 — Oerman cruiser Dresden sunk in Pacific by English. 
March 18 — ^British battleships Irresistible and Ocean and French battleship 
Bouvet sunk in Dardanelles strait. March 22 — Fort of Przemysl surrenders 
to Russians. March 23 — Allies land troops on Gallipoli peninsula. March 25— 
Russians victorious over Austrians in Carpathians. 

April 8 — German auxiliary cruiser, Prinz Eitel Friedrich, interned at 
Newport News, Va. April 16 — ^Italy has 1,200,000 men mobilized under arms; 
Austrians report complete defeat of Russians in Carpathian campaign. April 
23 — Germans force way across Ypres canal and take 1,600 prisoners. April 25 
— Allies stop German drive on Ypres line in Belgium. April 29 — ^British report 
legaining of two-thirds of lost ground in Ypres battle. 

May 7 — Liner Lusitania torpedoed and sunk by German submarine off 
the coast of Ireland with the loss of more than 1,000 lives, 102 Americans. 
May 9 — French advance two and one-half miles against German forces north 
of Arras, taking 2,000 prisoners. May 23 — ^Italy declares war on Austria. 

June 3 — Germans recapture Przemysl with Austrian help. June 18—* 
British suffer defeat north of La Bassee canal. June 28 — ^Italians enter Aus- 
trian territory south of Riva on western shore of Lake Garda. 

July 3 — Tolmino falls into Italian hands. July 9 — ^British make gains 
north of Ypres and French retake trenches in the Vosges. July 13 — Germans 
defeated in the Argonne. July 29 — Warsaw evacuated; Lublin captured by 
Austrians. 

August 4 — Germans occupy Warsaw. Aug. 14i — ^Austrians and Germans 
concentrate 400,000 soldiers on Serbian frontier. Aug. 21 — ^Italy declares 
war on Turkey. 

September 1 — Ambassador Bernstorff announces Germans will sink no more 
liners without warning. Sept. 4 — German submarine torpedoes liner Hes- 
perian. Sept. 9 — Germans make air raid on London, killing twenty persons 
and wounding 100 others; United States asks Austria to recall Ambassador 

506 



CHRONOLOGY OF TEE WORLD WAR 

Dumba. Sept 20 — Germans begin drive on Serbia to open rout© to Turkey 
Bept. 22— Russian army retreating from Vilna, escapes German encircling move- 
ment. Sept. 25-30 — Battle of Champagne, resulting in great advance for allied 
armies and causing Kaiser Wilhelm to rush to the west front: German counter 
Attacks repulsed. 

October 5— Eussia and Bulgaria sever diplomatic relations; Bussian, 
French, British, Italian, and Serbian diplomatic representatives ask for pass- 
ports in Sofia. Oct. 10 — Gen. Mackensen's forces take Belgrade. Oct. 12 — 
Edith Cavell executed by Germans. Oct. 13 — Bulgaria declares war on Serbia. 
Oct. 15 — Great Britain declares war on Bulgaria. Oct. 16 — France declares 
trar on Bulgaria. Oct. 19 — Eussia and Italy declare war on Bulgaria. Oct. 27 
—Germans join Bulgarians in northeastern Serbia and open way to Con- 
ftantinople. Oct. 30 — Germans defeated at Mitau. 

November 9 — Italian liner Ancona torpedoed. 

December 1 — ^British retreat from near Bagdad. Dec. 4 — ^Ford "peae* 
party" sails for Europe. Dec. 8-9 — Allies defeated in Macedonia. Dec. 16— ? 
Sir John Douglas Haig succeeds Sir John French as chief of English Mrmieg 
«n west front. 

1916 

January 8 — ^British troops at Kut-el-Amara surrounded. Jan. 9 — British 
evacuate Gallipoli peninsula. Jan. 13 — Austrians capture Cetinje, capital of 
Montenegro. Jan. 23 — Scutari, capital of Albania, captured by Austrians. 

Pebruary 22 — Crown prince's army begins attack on Verdun. 
March 8 — Germany declares war on Portugal. March 15 — Austria-Hungary 
<fleclares war on Portugal. March 24 — Steamer Sussex torpedoed and sunk. 

April 18 — ^President Wilson sends note to Germany. April 19 — President 
"Wilson speaks to congress, explaining diplomatic situation. April 24 — Insur- 
rection in Dublin. April 29 — British troops at Kut-el-Amara surrender to 
7urks. April 30 — Irish revolution suppressed. 

"i&BkY S — Irish leaders of insurrection executed. May 4 — Germany makes 
promise to change methods of submarine warfare. May 13 — Austrians begia 
great offensive against Italians in Trentino. May 31 — Great naval battle off 
Danish coast. 

June 5 — Lord Kitchener lost with cruiser Hampshire. June 11 — Bussians 
capture Dubno. Jun© 29 — Sir Eoger Casement sentenced to be hanged for 
treason 

July 1 — ^British and French begin, great offensive on the Somme. July 
C — David Lloyd George appointed secretary of war. July 9 — German 
merchant submarine Deutschland arrives at Baltimore. July 23 — Gen. Kuro- 
patkin's army wins battle near Eiga. July 27 — English take Delville wood; 
Serbian forces begin attack on Bulgars in Macedonia. 

August 2 — ^French take Fleury. Aug. 3 — Sir Eoger Casement executed for 
treason. Aug. 4 — French recapture Thiaumont for fourth time; British repulse 
Turkish attack on Suez canal. Aug. 7 — Italians on Isonzo front capture Monte 
Babotino and Monte San Michele. Aug. 8— Turks force Eussian evacuation 
©f Bitlis and Mush. Aug. 9— Italians cross Isonzo river and occupy Austrian 
city of Goeritz. Aug. 10 — Austrians evacuate Stanislau; allies take Doiran, 
near Saloniki, from Bulgarians. 

August 19 — German submarines sink British light cruisers Nottingham and 
Falmouth. Aug. 24 — French occupy Maurepas, north of the Somme; Russians 
recapture Mush in Armenia. Aug. 27— Italy declares war on Germany; 
Boumanla enters war on side of allies. Aug. 29— Field Marshal von Hindeu- 

507 



CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORLD WAR 

burg made chief of staff of German armies, succeeding Gen. von Palkenhayn. 
August SO — Russian armies seize all five passes in Carpathians into Hungary. 

September 8 — Allies renew offensive north of Somme; Bulgarian and Ger- 
man troops invade Dobrudja, in Eoumania. Sept. 7 — Germans and Bulgarians 
capture Eoumanian fortress of Tutrakan; Roumanians take Orsova, Bulgarian 
city. Sept. 19 — German-Bulgarian army captures Eoumanian fortress of 
Silistria. Sept. 14 — ^British for first time use "tanks." Sept. 15 — Italians 
begin new offensive on Carso. 

October 2 — Roumanian army of invasion in Bulgaria defeated by Germans 
and Bulgarians under Von Mackensen. Oct. 4 — German submarines sink French 
cruiser Gallia and Cunard liner Franconia. Oct. 8 — German submarines sink 
eix merchant steamships off Nantucket, Mass. Oct. 11 — Greek seacoast forts 
dismantled and turned over to allies on demand of England and France. 
Oct. 23 — German-Bulgar armies capture Constanza, Roumania Oct. 24: — French 
win back Douaumont, Thiaumont field work, Haudromont quarries, and 
Caillette wood near Verdun, in smash of two miles. 

November 1 — Italians, in new offensive on the Carso plateau, capture 
5,000 Austrians. Nov. 2 — Germans evacuate Fort Vaux at Verdun. Nov. 5 — 
Germans and Austrians proclaim new kingdom of Poland, of territory captured 
from Russia. Nov. 6 — Submarine sinks British passenger steamer Arabia. 
Nov. 7 — Cardinal Mercier protests against German deportation of Belgians; 
submarine sinks American steamer Columbian. Nov. 8 — Russian army invades 
Transylvania, Hungary. Nov. 9 — ^Austro-German armies defeat Russians in 
Volhyina and take 4,000 prisoners. 

November 13 — British launch new offensive in Somme region on boti 
sides of Ancre. Nov. 14 — British capture fortified village of Beacourt, near 
the Ancre. Nov. 19 — Serbian, French, and Russian troops recapture Monastir; 
Germans cross Transylvania Alps and enter western Roumania. Nov. 21 — 
British hospital ship Britannic sunk by mine in Aegean sea. Nov. 23 — Eou- 
manian army retreats ninety miles from Bucharest. Nov. 24 — Qerman- 
Bulgarian armies take Orsova and Turnu-Severin from Roumanians. Nov. 25 
— Gfreek provisional government declares war on Germany and Bulgaria. 
Nov. 28— ^Roumanian government abandons Bucharest and moves capital to 
Jassy. 

December 5 — ^Premier Herbert Asquith of England resigns. Dec. 7 — 
David Lloyd George accepts British premiership. Dec. 8 — Gen. von Macken- 
sen captures big Roumanian army in Prohova valley. Dec. 12 — Chancellor von 
Bethman-HoUweg announces in reichstag that Germany will propose peace; 
new cabinet in France under Aristide Briand as premier, and Gen. Robert 
Georges Nivelle given chief of command of French army. Dec. 15 — French at 
Verdun win two miles of front and capture 11,000. 

December 19— Llloyd George declines German peace proposals. Dec. 23 — 
Baron Burian succeeded as minister of foreign affairs in Austria by Count 
Czernin. Dec. 26 — Germany proposes to President Wilson "an immediate 
meeting of delegates of the belligerents." Dec 27 — Russians defeated ia 
flve-day battl© in eastern Wallachia, Roumania. 

1917 

January 1 — Submarine sinks British transport Ivernia. Jan. 9 — Russian 
premier, Trepoff, resigns, Golitzin succeeds him. Jan. 31 — Germany announ- 
ces unrestricted submarine warfare. 

February 3 — President Wilson reviews submarine controversy before con- 
gress; United States severs diplomatic relations with Germany; American 
steamer Housatonic sunk without warning. Teb. 7 — Senate indorses President 's 

508 



CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORLD WAR 

act of breaking off diplomatic relations. Feb. 12— United States refuses Ger- 
man request to discuss matters of difference unless Germany withdraws unre- 
stricted submarine warfare order. 

rebruaxy 14 — Von Bemstorff sails for Germany. Feb. 25 — British under 
Gen. Maude capture Kut-el-Amara; submarine sinks liner Laconia without 
warning; many lost including two Americans. Feb. 26 — President Wilson 
ftsks congress for authority to arm American merchantships. Feb. 28 — Secre- 
tary Lansing makes public Zimmerman note to Mexico, proposing Meiican- 
Japanese-German alliance. 

March 9 — President "Wilson calls extra session of congress for April 16. 
March 11 — British under Gen. Maude capture Bagdad; revolution starts in 
Petrograd. March 15 — Czar Nicholas of Russia abdicates. March 17 — French 
and British capture Bapaume. March 18 — New French ministry formed by 
Alexander Eibot. 

March 21 — Russian forces cross Persian border into Turkish territory; 
American oil steamer Healdton torpedoed without warning. March 22 — 
United States recognizes new government of Russia. March 27— Oen. Murray's 
British ear^odition into the Holy Land defeats Turkish army near Gaza. 

April 2 — President Wilson asks congress to declare that acts of Germany 
constitute a state of war; submarine sinks American steamer Aztec without 
warning. April 4 — ^United States senate passes resolution declaring a state of 
war exists with Germany. April 6 — House passes war resolution and President 
Wilson signs joint resolution of congress. April 8 — Austria declares severance 
of diplomatic relations with United States. 

April 9 — British defeat Germans at Vimy Ridge and take 6,000 prisoners; 
"United States seizes fourteen Austrian interned ships. April 2(> — Turkey 
severs diplomatic relations with the U. 6. April 28 — Congress passes selectiva 
service act for raising of army of 500,000; Guatemala severs diplomatic rela- 
tions with Germany. 

May 7 — War department orders raising of nine volunteer regiments of 
engineers to go to France. May 14: — Espionage act becomes law by passing 
senate. May 18 — President Wilson signs selective service act. Also directs 
expeditionary force of regulars under Gen. Pershing to go to France. May 19 
— Congress passes war appropriation bill of $3,000,000,000. 

June 5 — Nearly 10,000,000 men in U. S. register for military service. 
June 12 — King Constantino of Greece abdicates. June IS— Gen. Pershing and 
staff arrive in Paris. June 15 — First Liberty loan closes with large over- 
subscription. June 26 — First contingent American troops under Gen. Sibert 
arrives in France. June 29— Greece severs diplomatic relations with Teutonio 
allies. 

July 9 — President Wilson drafts state militia into federal service. Also 
places food and fuel under federal control. July 13 — War department order 
drafts 678,000 men into military service. July 14— Aircraft appropriation bill 
of $640,000,000 passes house; Chancellor yon Bethmann-Hollweg's resignation 
loiced by German political crisis. 

July 18 — United States government orders censorship of telegrams and 
cablegrams crossing frontiers. July 19 — New German Chancellor Michaelia 
declares Germany will not war for conquest; radicals and Catholic party ask 
peace without forced acquisitions of territory. July 22— Siam declares war on 
Germany. July 23 — Premier Kerensky given unlimited powers in Russia. 
July 28 — United States war industries board created to supervise expenditures. 

August 26 — Italian Second army breaks through Austrian line on Isonio 
front. Aug. 28— President Wilson rejects Pope Benedict 's peace plea. 

509 



CBBONOLOGY OF THE WORLD WAR 

September 10 — ^^Gen. KornilofE demands control of Eussian government. 
Sept. 11 — Eussian deputies vote to support Kerensky. Korniloff'a generals 
ordered arrested. Sept. 16 — Eussia proclaims new republic by order of Pre- 
mier Kerensky. Sept. 20 — Gen. Haig advances mile through German lines at 
Tpres. Sept. 21 — Gen. Tasker E. Bliss named chief of staff, U. S. army. 

October 16 — Germans occupy islands of Euno and Adro in the Gulf of 
Bdga. Oct. 25 — ^French under Gen. Petain advance and take 12,000 prisoners 
on Aisne front. Oct. 27 — Formal announcement made that American troops 
in France had fired their first shots in the war. Oct. 29 — ^Italian Isonzo front 
collapses and Austro-German army reaches outposts of Udine. 

November 1 — Secretary Lansing makes public the Luxburg "spurlos 
versenkt" note. Nov. 7 — Austro-German troops capture? Nov. 9 — ^Permanent 
interallied military commission created. Nov. 24 — Navy department announces 
capture of first German submarine by American destroyer. Nov. 28 — ^Bolsheviki 
get absolute control of Eussian assembly in Eussian elections. 

December 6 — Submarine sinks the Jacob Jones, first regular warship of 
American navy destroyed. Dec 7 — Congress declares war on Austria-Hungary. 
Dec. 8— Jerusalem surrenders to Qen. AUenby'a forces. 

1918 

January 6 — ^President Wilson delivers speech to congress giving "fourteen 
points" necessary to peace. Jan. 20 — ^British monitors win seafight with 
cruisers Goeben and Breslau, sinking latter. Jan. 28 — Eussia and Eoumania 
sever diplomatic relations. 

February 2 — ^United States troops take over their first sector, near Toul. 
Teb. 6 — ^United States troopship Tuscania sunk by submarine, 126 lost. Feb. 
11 — President Wilson, in address to congress, gives four additional peace 
principles, including self-determination of nations; Bolsheviki declare war with 
Germany over, but refuse to sign peace treaty. Feb. 13 — ^Bolo Pasha sentenced 
to death in France for treason. Feb. 25 — Germans take Eeval, Eussian naval 
base, and Pskov; Chancellor von Hertling agrees "in principle" with President 
Wilson's peace principles, in address to reichstag, 

Marcbi 1 — ^Americans repulse German attack on Toul sector. Msirch 2 — 
Treaty of peace with Germany signed by Bolsheviki at Brest-Litovsk. March, 
1 — Germany and Eoumania sign armistice on German terms. March 13 — Ger- 
man troops occupy Odessa. March 14 — ^AU Eussian congress of Soviets ratifies 
peace treaty. March 21 — German spring offensive starts on fifty mile front. 
March 22 — Germans take 16,000 British prisoners and 200 guns. 

March 23 — German drive gains nine miles. "Mystery gun" shells Pariff. 
March 24 — ^Germans reach the Somme, gaining fifteen miles. American engi- 
neers rushed to aid British. March 25— Germans take Bapaume. March 27 — 
Germans take Albert. March 28 — British counter attack and gain; French taka 
three towns; Germans advance toward Amiens. March 29 — "Mystery gun" 
kills seventy-five churchgoers in Paris on Good Friday. 

April 4 — Germans start second phase of their spring drive on the Somme. 
April 10— Germans take 10,000 British prisoners in Flanders. April 16 — Ger- 
mans capture Messines ridge, near Ypres; Bolo Pasha executed. April 23 — 
British and French navies ' * bottle up ' ' Zeebrugge. April 26 — Germans capture 
Mount Kemmel, taking 6,500 prisoners. 

May 5 — Austria starts drive on Italy. May 10 — ^British navy bottles up 
Ostend. May 24 — British ship Moldavia, carrying American troops, torpedoed; 
56 lost. May 27 — Germans begin third phase of drive on west front; gain five 
miles. May 28— Germans take 15,000 prisoners in drive. May 29-— Germans 
take Soissons and menace Beims. American troops capture Cantigny. May 

510 



CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORLD WAR 

30— Germans reach the Marne, fifty-five milea from Paris. May 31 — Qermant 
take 45,000 prisoners in drive. 

June 1 — Germans advance nine miles; are forty-six miles from Parit. 
June 3— Five German submarines attack U, S. coast and sink eleven shipi. 

June 5 — U. S. marines fight on the Marne near Chateau Thierry. June 9 

Germans start fourth phase of their drive by advancing toward Noyon. June 
10— Germans gain two miles. TJ. S. marines capture south end of Belleau 
wood. 

June 12 — ^French and Americans start counter attack. June 15 — Austrians 
begin another drive on Italy and take 10,000 prisoners. June 17 — Italians 
check Austrians on Piave river. June 19 — Austrians cross the Piave. June 
22 — Italians defeat Austrians on the Piave. June 23 — ^Austrians begin great 
Tetreat across the Piave. 

July 18 — Gen. Foch launches allied offensive, -with French, American, 
British, Italian and Belgian troops. July 21 — Americans and French capture 
Chateau Thierry. July 30 — German crown prince flees from the Marne and 
withdraws army. 

August 2 — Soissons recaptured by Foch. Aug. 4 — Americans take Fismes. 
Aug. 6 — American troops landed at Archangel. Aug. 7 — Americans cross the 
Vesle. Aug. 16 — Bapaume recaptured. Aug. 28 — French recross the Somme. 

September 1 — Foch retakes Peronne. Sept. 12 — Americans launch sueeess- 
fnl attack in St. Mihiel salient. Sept. 28— Allies win on 250 mile line, from 
North sea to Verdun. Sept. 29 — Allies cross Hindenburg line. Sept. 30 — 
Bulgaria surrenders, after successful allied campaign in Balkans. October 1 — 
French take St. Quentin. Oct. 4 — Austria asks Holland to mediate with allies 
for peace. Oct. 5 — Germans start abandonment of Lille and burn Douai. Oct. 
6— Germany asks President Wilson for armistice. Oct. 7 — Americans capture 
hills around Argonne. Oct. 8 — President Wilson refuses armistice. Oct. 9 — 
Allies capture Cambrai. Oct. 10 — Allies capture Le Cateau. Oct. 11 — American 
transport Otranto torpedoed and sunk; 500 lost. Oct. 13 — ^Foch's troops take 
Laon and La Fere. 

October 14 — ^British and Belgians take Roulers; President Wilson demand! 
■urrender by Germany. Oct. 15— British and Belgians cross Lys river, take 
12,000 prisoners and 100 guns. Oct. 16 — Allies enter Lille outskirts. Oct. 17 — 
Allies capture LUle, Bruges, Zeebrugge, Ostend, and Douai. Oct 18 — Czecho- 
Slovaks issue declaration of independence; Czechs rebel and seize Prague, 
eaptial of Bohemia; French take Thielt. 

October 19 — President Wilson refuses Austrian peace plea and says Czecho- 
slovak state must be considered. Oct. 21 — Allies cross the Oise and threaten 
Valenciennes. Oct. 22 — Haig's forces cross the Scheldt. Oct. 23— President 
Wilson refuses latest German peace plea. Oct. 27 — German government aska 
President Wilson to state terms. Oct. 28 — Austria begs for separate peace. 

October 29 — Austria opens direct negotiations with Secretary Lansing. 
Oct. 30 — Italians inflict great defeat on Austria; capture 33,000 Austrians evaa- 
uating Italian territory. Oct. 31 — Turkey surrenders; Austrians utterly routed 
by Italians; lose 50,000; Austrian envoys, under white flag, enter Italian lines. 

November 1 — Italians pursue beaten Austrians across Tagliamento river; 
allied conference at Versailles fixes peace terms for Germany. Nov. 3 — Austria 
signs armistice amounting virtually to unconditional surrender. Nov. 4r---Allied 
terms are sent to Germany. Nov. 7 — Germany's envoys enter allied lines by 
arrangement, 

November 9 — Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates and crown prince renounces throne. 
Kov. 10 — Former Kaiser Wilhelm and his eldest son, Friedrick Wilhelm, flee 
to Holland to escape widespread revolution throughout Germany. 

511 



CHRONOLOGY OF THE WORLD WAR 

Novemljer 9 — Kaiser Wilhelm abdicates and crown prince renounoeB throne. 
British battleship Britannia torpedoed and sunk bj German submarlnefl oft 
entrance to Straits of Gibraltar. 

November 10 — Former Kaiser Wilhelm and his eldest son, Frederick Wil- 
helm, flee to Holland to escape widespread revolution throughout Germanj. 
King of Bavaria abdicates. 

November 11 — Armistice in effect at 11- o'clock a. m., Paris time. Firing 
ceased on all fronts. An American battery from Providence, Ehode Island, 
fired last shot at exactly 11 o'clock on the front northwest of Verdun. Ger- 
mans began evacuation of Belgium and Alsace-Lorraine. 

November 12 — German republic proclaimed at Berlin. Emperor Oharles 
of Austria abdicates. Belgium demands complete independence instead of 
guaranteed neutrality. To secure status as a belligerent at the peace council, 
Roumania again declares war on Germany. United States stops draft boards 
and lifts war restrictions of industries. 

November 13 — American troops cross the German former frontier and enter 
Alsace-Lorraine. 

November 15 — Distinguished Service Medal conferred on General Pershing 
at his headquarters in France by General Tasker H, Bliss. United States 
Postoffice department takes control of all ocean cable lines, consent of other 
governments having been obtained. Prof. Thomas G. Masaryk proclaimed 
President of the new Czecho-Slav republic. 

November 16 — Copenhagen reported many German ships due for surrender 
under armistice conditions. Demobilization of United States troops ordered by 
the government, beginning with those in army camps at home. United States 
takes over express service. Belgian troops enter Brussels. German cruiser 
Wiesbaden torpedoed, by German revolutionary sailors, with loss of 330 lives. 

November 17 — Two hundred and fifty thousand American troops advance 
nine miles in French territory evacuated by Germans. French armies advance 
across the west boundary of Alsace-Lorraine and occupy many towns. People 
of Luxemburg demand abdication of Grand Duchess. 

November 29 — The President announced names of commissioners to rep- 
resent the United States at peace conference. They were Woodrow Wilson, 
President of the United States; Robert Lansing, Secretary of State; Col. 
Edward M. House; Henry White, former ambassador to Italy and to France, 
and Gen. Tasker H. BUss, American adviser of the supreme war council. 

December 4, 1918 — President Wilson and a numerous staff sailed for 
Europe from New York aboard the George Washington, escorted by warships 
under command of Admiral Mayo, to attend the Peace Conference at Paris, 
France. 

May 7, 1919 — Treaty of peace handed to German peace delegates at Ver- 
sailles by Premier Clemenceau of France. 

June 28, 1919 — Treaty of peace signed by Allied and German plenipoten- 
tiaries at Versailles. 

.1, b 608* 



*The total number of pages in this book la 608, Includlner 96 pagrea of 
Illustrations, which are not marked by folio numbers, and 512 pages of. 



numbered text. 



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